JOAN  OF  ARC  (1412-1431) 

Sculpture  by  Chapu  in  Luxemburg 


The  Wonderful  Story  of 

JOAN  of  ARC 

AND  THE  MEANING  OP  HER  LIFE 
FOR  AMERICANS 


BY  C.  M.  STEVENS 

Author  of  "Washington,"  "Lincoln,1 
"Bible  Stories,"  etc. 


NEW  YORK 
CUPPLES  &  LEON  COMPANY 


te  ju< 

•    y 

ir 


"Foe  only  to  the  great  blood-guiUy  ones,  c  fr*^^,^ 

The  Masters  and  Murderers  of  Mankind"     ._ 

Rju  b  «      / 
— SOUTHEY.  r  *-* 


COPYRIGHT,  1918,  BY 
CUPPLES  AND  LEON  COMPANY 


From  the 

INSPIRATION  AND  FAITH 
of  the 

WONDER;PUL   WOMAN 

to 

MY   DAUGHTER 

and  to 
ALL  THE  DAUGHTERS  OF  MAN  AND  GOD 


CONTENTS 


I.    INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS 1 

II.    ORIGINS  FOR  A  WONDERFUL  FAITH   ...  28 

III.  EARLY  INTERESTS  IN  THE  GREAT  CAUSE    .  42 

IV.  THE  FIRST  BELIEVERS  AND  THEIR  TASK    .  55 

V.    THE  PROMISED  SIGN  FROM  THE  KING  OF 

HEAVEN 76 

VI.    FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY  OF  ORLEANS  ...  94 

VII.    THE  PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KINS  ....  114 

VIII.    A  DIVINE  CROWN  AND  THE  ROYAL  HEAD  .  133 

IX.    ON  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS 154 

X.    THE  VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS 174' 

XI.    How  SELF-INTEREST  DECIDES  QUESTIONS 

OF  RIGHT  AND  WRONG 193 

XII.    "THE  TENDER  MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED 

ARE  CRUEL" 214 

XIII.    GLIMPSES  OF  THE  INQUISITION     ....  235 

vii 


viii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

XTV.    THE  MIGHT  OF  EIGHT  FOB  THE  SOUL   .    .  257 

XV.    PAYING  UNTO  WILL  THE  FINAL  PRICE  OP 

FAITH 276 

XVI.    THE  TRAGEDY  OF  FAITH  AND  THE  VICTORY 

OF  WILL 298 

XVII.    CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS  OF  A  LIFE          .  317 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


PAQH 


JOAN  OP  ABC  (1412-1431),  Sculpture  by  Chapu  in 

Luxemburg Frontispiece 

BIRTHPLACE  OP  JOAN  OP  ABC  ........  32 

"Tnou  AST  THE  KING"      / 70 

THE  ENTBANCE  OP  JEANNE  D  'ABC  INTO  OBLEANS   .  88 

CHABLES  VII  (1403-1461) 120 

CHABLES  VII  AND  THE  MAID  OP  OBLEANS  ENTEB- 

ING  EHEIMS 144 

LA  PUCELLE  LISTENING  TO  HEB  VOICES    ....  168 

JEANNE  IN  PBISON 200 

PIEBBE    CAUCHON,   the   prosecutor   in   the   trial 

against  Joan  of  Arc 248 

JOAN  OP  ABC  WITH  THE  SWOBD  OP  FEEBBOIS  .    .    .  272 

"THE  LAST  FULL  MEASUBE  OP  DEVOTION"    .    .    .  300 

STATUE  OP  JOAN  OP  ABC,  Riverside  Drive,  New 

York  3C8 


JOAN  OF  ARC 

AND 

THE  MEANING  OF  HER  LIFE  FOB 
AMERICANS 


CHAPTER  I 
INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS 

1.  At  the  Gates  of  Mystery 

JOAN  OP  ABO  was  the  first  great  warrior  for  the 
freedom  of  nations.  She  was  the  first  leader  of 
armies  to  make  war  solely  against  war.  She  was 
the  first  woman  to  demonstrate,  from  the  lowliest 
scenes  to  the  highest,  ever  within  the  qualities  and 
capabilities  of  moral  womanhood,  all  the  heroism, 
endurance,  and  nobility  ever  known  or  claimed 
for  manhood.  She  was  the  first  martyr,  unmis- 
takable, irreproachable  and  unsurpassable,  within 
the  Christian  Church,  for  freedom  of  conscience, 
in  the  conduct  of  life,  wherever  it  involves  the 
rights  of  man  in  his  responsibility  to  God.  She 
was  human  motherhood  in  action  for  the  pro- 
tection of  her  loved  ones,  empowered  with  the 
gospel  of  righteousness  that  wrong  can  be  mas- 

1 


JOAN  OF  ARC 


tered  by  right.  Like  the  three  years '  ministry  of 
the  Wonderful  Man,  fourteen  centuries  before,  the 
three  years  of  this  wonderful  woman  unveiled,  as 
a  Providential  revelation  and  warning  to  coming 
generations,  the  monstrous  despotism  toward 
which  the  human  will  develops  in  the  organized 
masteries  of  man. 

Joan  of  Arc  is  one  of  the  supreme  revelations 
of  humanity.  She  is  a  sublime  masterpiece  of 
character.  She  gave  a  wonderful  life  for  social 
justice.  She  lived  an  unsurpassable  ideal  of  loy- 
alty to  moral  law.  This  shepherd  girl  of  the  lowly 
fields  opened  a  book  of  faith  that  had  been  closed 
for  a  thousand  years.  She  illuminated  the  sacred 
pages  of  divine  rights  so  clearly  that  they  can  be 
read  with  unfailing  hope  for  every  one  unto  the 
end  of  time.  Her  banner  of  li^ht  waved  away  for- 
ever the  despair  of  the  oppressed,  demonstrated 
•the  might  of  right,  and  revealed  the  right-minded 
as  being  endowed  with  the  commonwealth  of  the 
universe. 

She  knew  in  whom  she  believed.  Spirit  and 
work  bore  witness  to  her  truth.  She  believed  in 
the  irresistible  righteousness  of  an  ever-present 
God.  In  her  faith, ' ' whosoever  will ' '  might  freely 
come  into  that  assurance  and  safety.  She  believed 
that  righteous  people  were  empowered  with  an  al-1 
mighty  divinity  working  through  their  work  as 
they  strove  for  the  peace  and  justice  of  lawful 
government,  known  then  in  moral  understanding 
as  the  calling  and  office  of  a  consecrated  king. 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS      3 

She  did  not  know  of  any  organized  evil  but  the 
merciless  conqueror  and  his  ruthless  conquest  of 
her  helpless  people.  She  did  not  know  that  be- 
tween her  and  the  divine  calling  of  the  royal 
throne  there  was  a  Satanic  brood  of  favorites, 
parasites  and  traitors  controlling  the  royal  office, 
who  hated  her  light  and  were  treasonable  toward 
the  great  pity  she  had  for  France.  She  did  not 
know  that  when  she  had  won  her  heroic  way 
through  these  dark  forces  of  evil,  or  that  after 
she  had  driven  back  the  foreign  foe  from  their  in- 
tervening strongholds,  and  had  completed  her  task 
in  the  holy  consecration  of  her  king  to  his  sacred 
work  for  her  native  land,  that  she  would  then  have 
to  meet  in  a  fight  unto  death  a  far  more  powerful 
organization  of  Satanic  mercenaries,  who  had 
taken  possession  of  her  religious  life,  and  had 
seized  the  right  of  way  to  the  love  of  her  saints 
and  the  law  of  her  Lord. 

The  sublime  figure  of  this  wonderful  woman  is 
the  revelation  of  power  in  a  child's  faith  glorified 
and  exalted  in  the  divine  light  of  an  infinite  mean- 
ing for  humanity.  The  supreme  interest  of  her 
life  is  in  the  great  victory  promised  her  when  the 
hideous  despotism  of  so-called  divine  rights  had 
done  its  worst.  The  Son  of  Man  became  a  celes- 
tial ideal  in  contrast  with  Judas,  the  Jewish  San- 
hedrim and  the  Roman  Caesar,  but  it  remained 
for  the  will  of  the  Christian  Church  and  State  to 
place  itself  in  a  far  more  hideous  contrast  with 
the  faith  of  this  Daughter  of  God. 


4 JOAN  OF  ARC 

The  heroic  inspiration,  and  its  meaning,  of  her 
sublime  sacrifice  is  now  dawning  upon  humanity 
through  five  centuries  of  soul-enshrouded  night. 
The  world  of  wonders,  known  as  history,  is  be- 
coming sunlit  with  intelligence,  and  slowly  we  are 
finding  many  of  its  sacred  relics  to  be  abominable 
evils,  and  even  more  of  its  neglected  forms  to  be 
the  noblest  good.  Political  freedom  is  only  begin- 
ning to  realize  itself  as  moral  law.  Human  mar- 
tyrdom and  sacrifice  have  paid  infinite  prices  to 
make  free,  and  to  help  us  understand,  the  divine 
rights  composing  the  evolutionary  meaning  of  the 
human  race.  The  human  mind  is  slowly  and 
surely  understanding  the  social  way,  and  when 
it  does  there  will  be  for  every  one  the  peace  and 
safety  of  a  moral  commonwealth  composing  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth. 


3.    The  Will-Made  Life  in  a  Faith-Made  World 

The  anguish  and  despair  of  conflicting  conduct 
arise  from  the  inhuman  struggle  between  faith 
and  will.  The  epic  struggle  of  this  wonderful 
woman  was  between  her  immediate  faith  in  the 
might  of  right  and  the  authorized  will  developed 
in  the  right  of  might.  The  ancient  struggle  for 
human  rights  develops  as  intelligence  discovers 
and  seeks  to  use  the  freedom  and  power  of  moral 
law.  The  chaos  of  selfish  animalism  disappears 
from  the  cosmic  order  of  humanity  as  the  indi- 
vidual will  gives  way  to  social  reason  in  a  com- 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS      5 

nranity  of  moral  law.  The  creation  of  the  heav- 
ens and  the  earth  has  progressed  in  the  order  of 
an  infinite  system,  every  particle  having  its  free- 
dom and  its  life  in  the  universal  work,  but  the  cre- 
ation of  humanity  and  personality,  however  pro- 
gressive its  intelligence,  continues  in  anguish  and 
despair,  and  the  tragedy  that  tore  the  battlefields 
of  yesterday,  even  as  ever  before,  is  the  same 
Satanic  interest  that  begins  its  contest  for  mas- 
tery anew,  over  and  over  again,  in  every  new 
community  and  at  the  birth  of  every  child. 

Has  intelligence  discovered  in  such  conse- 
quences that  the  entire  system  is  totally  wrong! 
It  has.  And  it  has  always  clearly  known  this. 
Otherwise,  it  could  not  be  defined  as  intelligent. 
But  the  animal  system  of  wills  cannot  yield  its 
selfish  control,  and  so,  has  tried  to  satisfy  intelli- 
gence and  keep  it  absorbed  in  constructing  an  in- 
volved, and  ever  more  involved,  and  complicated 
system  of  contract-government,  with  individual 
mastery  as  the  central  sun  or  constellation  of  a 
will-made  universe.  It  can't  be  done.  It  is  always 
falling  to  pieces  or  reforming  itself  in  revolutions 
and  wars.  The  endless  struggle  of  Will  against 
Faith  has  been  totally  illustrated  in  every  life  of 
faith  which  Will  has  found  it  necessary  to  sup- 
press or  destroy  in  order  to  preserve  its  mastery 
and  conquest.  The  mark  of  Cain  is  on  the  brow  of 
every  invading  will,  whether  its  imperialism  is 
of  persons,  doctrines,  capitalism  or  dynasties. 

In  the  fullness  of  time,  for  every  epoch  in  the 


6 JOAN  OF  ARC 

development  of  humanity  from  its  animal  system, 
there  has  come  forth  an  embodiment  of  Sovereign 
Faith  in  conflict  unto  death  with  the  organization 
of  Sovereign  Will.  Sovereign  Might  in  the  al- 
leged divine  right  of  self-preservation  forthwith 
killed  its  enemy  and  thus  exalted  in  all  reason  the 
infinitely  greater  soul-ideal  of  Sovereign  Law. 

In  the  first  supreme  epoch  of  human  history, 
when  the  human  will  had  reached  its  most  com- 
plete mastery  in  the  name  of  organized  law,  ever 
possible  on  earth,  and  all  civilization  was  hope- 
lessly enslaved  in  the  name  of  Borne  and  Caesar, 
there  appeared  a  Man  with  the  only  possible 
means  of  defense  or  defeat  for  that  monstrous 
process  of  inhumanity  and  moral  chaos.  He  came 
from  the  origin  of  Life,  with  all  the  meaning  of 
"Life  More  Abundantly,"  as  possible  only  in 
Faith.  It  was  One  against  all  the  powers  of  or- 
ganized might.  He  fought  a  sublime  fight,  but 
they  killed  him,  and  there  was  "lifted  up"  a  Won- 
drous Light  that  was  "to  light  the  way  of  every 
one  that  cometh  into  the  world. ' ' 

Selfishness,  always  seizing  every  means  for  any 
control  over  the  minds  of  men,  built  up  religions 
and  dynasties  out  of  that  interest  in  Divine  Life, 
in  which  revolution  or  conquest  meant  only  a 
change  of  masters.  Europe  had  its  starless  night 
known  as  the  dark  ages.  For  a  thousand  years 
the  people  lived,  believed  and  died  according  to 
the  will  that  had  fought  or  intrigued  its  way  to 
mastery  over  their  group.  Europe  was  an  un* 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS      7 

ceasing  battlefield  of  dynastic  wills.  France  was 
almost  destroyed  in  a  hundred  years'  war.  The 
supreme  organization  of  will  in  the  time  of  Christ, 
known  as  Rome,  had  degenerated  during  fourteen 
hundred  years  into  the  most  sordid  and  debauched 
condition  recorded  in  human  history.  If  there 
was  faith  anywhere  on  earth  its  light  was  put  out 
in  blood  and  death.  God  seemed  to  have  aban- 
doned the  world,  when  there  appeared  in  the  fields 
of  Domremy  a  little  girl  with  a  vision  and  a  task. 
It  was  the  coming  of  a  Woman  with  the  only  pos- 
sible means  of  defense  or  defeat  for  that  mon- 
strous process  of  inhumanity  and  moral  chaos. 
She  came  from  the  origin  of  Life,  with  all  the 
meaning  of  faith  in  the  "Life  More  Abundantly," 
which  fourteen  centuries  before  had  been  revealed 
to  the  world. 

Joan  of  Arc  was  a  revelation  of  Faith.  Her 
enemies  were  a  revelation  of  "Will.  Faith  and 
Will  are  antagonists  in  the  limited  regions  of  in- 
dividuals and  are  one  only  as  they  coalesce  in  the 
infinite  regions  of  the  divine  system  of  minds  that 
we  may  call  the  social  universe.  Her  faith-trium- 
phant in  unsurpassable  struggle  with  their  will- 
militant  is  a  revelation  of  the  Power  of  Faith  over 
the  Power  of  Will.  Humanity  witnesses  in  this 
wonderful  Woman  the  divine  secret  of  human  life. 
The  Will-made  world  belongs  to  the  age  of  beasts. 
Intelligence  and  reason  and  morality  and  love 
have  no  meaning  except  in  a  faith-made  world. 

However  much  of  a  religious  interest  this  may 


8 JOAN  OF  ARC 

be,  and  however  much  it  may  be  a  version  of  relig 
ions  principles,  it  is  no  less  a  personal  reality,  and 
there  is  revealed  in  this  simple  peasant  girl's  ex- 
perience a  psychological  power  ever  available  for 
individual  and  social  government.  The  Kingdom 
of  Faith  was  a  fundamental  order  in  her  soul, 
even  as  her  enemies  moved  and  lived  and  had 
their  beings  in  a  Kingdom  of  Will.  Her  career 
was  a  divine  tragedy,  revealing  the  struggle  of  hu- 
manity between  the  two  kingdoms  of  human  in- 
telligence. It  was  a  final  demonstration  reveal- 
ing the  perilous  inferiority  of  will  as  a  practical 
means  in  human  affairs. 

The  Domremy  shepherd  girl,  who  delivered 
France  and  suffered  martyrdom  at  Rouen,  reveals 
with  more  than  mathematical  conviction  how  the 
world's  work  is  achieved  through  faith  and  is  lost 
through  will.  Her  career  is  not  a  dogmatic  as- 
sertion to  be  defended  or  denied,  except  as  a 
match  game  on  the  chess-board  of  controversy  be- 
tween historical  critics  and  religious  logicians. 
There  is  a  life  of  her  that  is  simple  and  clear  and 
that  is  consistently  free  of  any  mystic  or  partisan 
controversy.  She  surpasses  wonder,  when  viewed 
as  a  child  of  faith,  and  yet  no  one  in  history  is 
more  sincere,  reasonable  and  natural  in  her  career 
and  character.  She  separates  with  unavoidable 
distinction  the  kingdom  of  imperishable  value 
from  the  kingdom  of  temporary  mastery.  She  is 
an  indisputable  definition  of  the  human  way.  She 
is  an  explanation  of  human  history.  Her  experi- 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS      9 

ence  is  a  living  panorama  of  the  two  vital  forces 
contending  for  the  control  of  life  and  mind.  She 
is,  in  the  beginning,  a  supreme  symbol  of  inspired 
womanhood  defending  her  family  group  from  the 
invading  beasts  of  conquest,  and  then,  from  this 
great  task,  she  becomes  the  sublime  revelation 
of  childhood-faith  in  an  unconquerable  death- 
struggle  against  wills  and  organized  wills,  as  the 
religious  and  moral  betrayers  of  the  world. 

3.  Before  the  Doors  of  Life 

The  Maid  of  Orleans  is  a  message  and  a  way. 
She  is  a  masterpiece  of  evidence  in  faith-keeping, 
and  its  independent  power  over  the  most  resource- 
ful wit  and  disciplined  purpose  possible  to  man. 
In  maintaining  the  faith  for  a  sublime  human 
cause,  considering  her  youth,  inexperience,  and 
lack  of  learning,  she  becomes  the  most  illustrious 
and  heroic  figure  in  human  history. 

The  growth  of  interest  in  that  immortal  child 
of  lowly  France  develops  according  as  we  appre- 
ciate her  possession  of  power  that  she  proved  to 
be  unassailable  in  the  midst  of  inescapable  despot- 
ism. She  was  not  a  supernatural  miracle  of  will 
but  a  natural  result  of  simple  faith  in  the  might 
of  right  empowering  the  work  of  right-minded 
men.  It  could  not  have  been  a  thought-out  pur- 
pose, as  she  never  knew  or  planned  beyond  the 
day  or  the  task.  She  did  only  as  every  one  must, 
do  who  desires  to  be  worthy  of  being  human  on 


10 JOAN  OF  ARC 

the  way  to  the  divine.  She  gave  her  personal  life 
to  the  meaning  of  social  life  and  her  social  reason 
to  the  soul  of  moral  law. 

Her  intelligence  was  not  given  to  anything  so 
frail  as  human  intelligence  and  she  had  no  thought 
of  ever  trying  to  strengthen  her  will  with  human 
will.  Her  intelligence  sought  wisdom  for  every 
need  in  the  Infinite  Eeason  and  her  will  found 
strength  for  every  trial  in  the  Infinite  Law.  Her 
will  was  often  broken  and  defeated  by  other  wills. 
Her  persistence  was  never  consistent  as  being  res- 
olution or  determination.  She  often  cried  like  a 
child  at  deception,  insults,  suffering  and  cruelty. 
She  trembled  with  fear  under  the  menace  of  im- 
pending wrong.  Her  career,  considered  as  the 
will  of  a  woman,  was  ingloriously  betrayed,  and 
was  brought  to  the  most  ignoble  defeat,  but  the 
faith  of  the  unlettered  peasant  girl  could  not  be 
shaken  or  lessened  by  all  the  prolonged  torture, 
treacherous  reason,  and  exalted  authority,  possi- 
ble in  the  will  of  the  most  learned  and  powerful 
men  in  Europe. 

The  child  of  faith  won  an  unsurpassable  victory 
over  the  will  of  men.  Nothing  less  than  the  eter- 
nal meaning  creative  in  our  humanity,  and  al- 
mighty in  our  commonwealth  of  life,  could  have 
brought  forth  such  a  star  of  light  for  the  soul 
of  people  enslaved  and  despoiled  as  they  had  been 
for  centuries  under  the  parasite  system  of  organ- 
ized masteries. 

Appreciation  cannot  be  exaggerated  nor  valua- 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS     11 

tion  overprized  for  this  illuminating  contrast  be- 
tween faith  and  will,  because,  as  has  already  been 
truly  said,  "nothing  could  have  been  put  into  the 
story  to  make  it  more  human  or  more  divine." 
The  will-maker  has  power  unto  the  reach  of  his 
hands,  but  the  faith-lover  has  the  will  of  the  wise 
man  as  the  way  of  an  organized  universe. 

La  Pucelle  is  an  inexhaustible  source  of  personal 
reassurance.  The  power  that  sustained  her  ean 
sustain  any  other  in  any  conditions,  because  no 
one  could  be  placed  under  worse  despotism  or 
more  hopeless  despair.  None  can  ever  be  sur- 
rounded by  blacker  forms  of  a  more  desperate 
destiny.  If  there  is  some  weary  soul,  defeated 
and  alone,  imprisoned  within  a  dungeon  of  suf- 
fering and  evil,  the  memory  of  this  unconquerable 
girl  will  bring  the  companionship  of  unlimited 
power  over  pain  and  death.  A  vision  of  her  light 
should  enable  any  one  to  seize  fast  hold,  as  she 
did,  on  the  sources  of  invincible  soul  and  be  aff 
strong  as  she  was  strong.  In  the  desponding  hour 
of  souls  besieged,  there  shall  come  at  the  call  of 
faith  a  vision  of  this  dauntless  life ;  on  the  horizon 
of  hope  there  shall  appear  the  light  of  never-fail- 
ing inspiration,  and  in  the  name  of  love  there 
shall  be  a  healing  response  for  every  need.  Out 
of  the  night  of  a  brutal  age,  behold  her  flaming 
standard  coming  swiftly  with  the  sunrise  of  a  new 
day.  In  its  shining  folds  is  victory  over  hate  and 
despair,  almighty  in  the  faith  and  meaning  of  hu- 
manity and  God.  It  cannot  fail  for  any  one  who 


12 JOAN  OF  ARC 

remembers  how  this  young  girl  was  a  child  of 
light  in  the  midst  of  the  darkest  wrongs,  in  all  the 
historical  infamy  of  man. 

The  simple  revelations  of  her  loyalty  and  sacri- 
fice for  the  rights  of  life  become  more  appreciated, 
as  a  precious  human  inspiration,  when  we  can  re- 
ceive them  free  from  the  bewildering  confusions 
of  testimonies  and  records  concerning  voices,  vi- 
sions and  supernatural  claims.  Her  own  un- 
learned explanations  of  her  intense  convictions, 
whether  subjective  or  objective,  whether  halluci- 
native  or  miraculous,  are  not  needed  to  feel  her 
inspiration  or  to  believe  in  her  faith  and  truth. 
From  the  day  in  which  she  made  her  first  effort 
to  fulfill  her  faith,  she  was  subjected  by  enemies 
and  friends  to  soul-torturing  inquisitions,  requir- 
ing explanations  more  than  she  could  explain,  but 
necessary  for  such  understandings,  then  prevail- 
ing in  the  midst  of  the  most  superstitious  of  all 
ignorant  times.  Historical  consistency  cannot  be 
recovered  from  the  controversial  confusions,  con- 
sidering the  many  varieties  of  interest  and  mas- 
ters. She  was  faith.  That  is  all  and  enough. 
Her  character  and  career  were  faith  in  her  Lord, 
the  King  of  Heaven  and  Earth,  a  supreme  ideal 
of  mind,  that  "we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being"  in  a  divine  universe. 

The  numerous  views  expressed  in  the  written 
testimonials  of  enemies  and  friends  are  of  interest 
mainly  among  the  curiosities  and  puzzles  of  his- 
torical criticism,  and  their  medley  of  confusions 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS     13 

is  entirely  outside  of  the  meaning  that  is  her  mes- 
sage to  humanity.  The  supreme  faith-mind,  re- 
vealing its  strength  and  way  to  every  aspiring 
youth  or  suffering  soul,  is  a  fundamental  and  orig- 
inal value,  existing  Jong  before  any  of  the  theo- 
logical explanations  were  adopted  that  raised  her 
religious  merit  to  the  rank  of  saints.  It  is  enough 
for  our  consideration  here  that  she  built  an  inde- 
structible house  of  faith,  wherein  we  may  find  our 
refuge  and  our  strength  as  heirs  and  joint  heirs 
in  a  divine  system  of  moral  law.  ' 

4.  In  the  Beginning  Was  Meaning 

A  life  is  like  a  word.  It  is  the  sign  of  an  idea. 
The  life-idea  is  fulfilled  either  in  faith  or  in  will. 
The  creative  inspiration  of  faith  as  social  work, 
is  not  the  same  as  the  possessive  satisfaction  of 
will  as  individual  conquest.  Lives  that  live  their 
inspiration  in  faith  have  a  different  meaning  from 
those  that  live  their  satisfaction  as  will.  It  may 
be  wise  to  believe  that  they  have  a  different  des- 
tiny. The  law  of  faith  can  never  mean  the  same 
as  the  law  of  will.  It  may  be  the  difference  that 
Americans  see  between  Washington  the  liberator 
and  Napoleon  the  conqueror.  It  may  separate 
more  clearly  for  us  the  mind  of  Judas  from  the 
mind  of  Christ.  It  may  show  that  the  human  race 
is  divided  into  two  kinds  of  beings  as  distinct  in 
class  as  apes  and  angels,  especially  when  we  try 
to  understand  the  faith  of  Joan  of  Arc  in  clear 


14 JOAN  OF  ARC 

contrast  with  the  will  of  the  conclave  at  Rouen. 

Selfishness  in  control  of  ignorance  has  re- 
mained master  of  the  human  way.  From  the  be- 
ginning, its  slavery  of  suffering  and  madness  has 
possessed  the  whole  process  of  civilization. 
Through  all  the  story  of  the  human  struggle,  the 
self  as  will,  either  in  destructive  anarchy  or  in 
organized  autocracy,  has  kept  the  mastery  over 
faith  in  unceasing  despotism  and  war.  Nature 
has  endeavored  to  develop  mind  above  the  will 
into  intelligence  as  the  social  reason  of  moral 
law.  It  has  brought  its  own  house  to  order  as 
an  intelligible  physical  system.  The  will  of  phys- 
ical chaos  has  become  extinct  in  the  faith  of  cos- 
mic law.  Human  intelligence  is  likewise  hard  at 
work  to  make  the  world  safe  for  social  reason. 
History  is  succeeding  in  showing  that  will  is  the 
maker  and  meaning  of  miseiy  and  war,  while  in 
flaming  contrast  it  is  revealing  that  faith  is  the 
maker  and  meaning  of  society  and  science  as  the 
ends  of  moral  law. 

The  autocracy  of  Caesar 's  will  required  the  mar- 
tyrdom and  meaning  of  the  Son  of  Man  to  make 
world  dominion  impossible,  and  the  anarchy  of 
warring  wills  in  Europe  required  the  martyrdom 
and  meaning  of  a  Child  of  Faith  to  restore  the 
mind  of  France  to  the  rights  of  nations.  There 
had  to  be  some  costly  valuation  of  faith  made 
manifest  to  the  oppressed  and  stupefied  people, 
yet  remaining  alive  in  the  midst  of  the  hundred 
years 'war  that  was  still  ravaging  western  Europe. 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS     15 

Jeanne  of  the  Domremy  fields  was  one  of  the 
keepers  of  the  faith,  who  gathered  into  her  soul 
the  meaning  of  humanity  and  was  thus  called  to 
show  the  people  that  one  lone  girl,  loving  life  with 
all  the  passion  of  youth,  could  be  master  over  all 
the  evil  possible  in  the  art  and  might  of  men. 
Now  passing  five  centuries  of  time,  she  still  lives 
in  immortal  youth,  and  waves  her  banner  of  faith 
to  the  long  line  of  oncoming  generations,  with, 
more  worth  for  humanity  in  its  golden  folds  than 
all  the  arts  of  Greece  and  the  powers  of  Rome. 
Her  life-meaning  continues  forever  to  be  a  source 
of  inexhaustible  empowerment  that  surpasses  all 
the  masteries  of  university  logic,  theological  ex- 
communications and  decrees  of  empire. 

5.  The  Almighty  Wa/g 

Jeanne  d'Arc  was  the  long,  straight  aim  of 
Faith.  Her  reason  formed  judgments  into  will 
from  passing  events  only  for  passing  events.  In- 
tellect with  its  learning  was  expedient  and  instru- 
mental among  the  changing  values  of  temporal 
affairs.  Faith  meant  practical  work.  She  prob- 
ably did  not  know  that  Paul  said  so.  She  could 
hardly  have  known  that  the  prophets  all  said  so. 
Even  her  voices  did  not  say  so.  They  merely  said, 
over  and  over  again,  "Go  on,  Daughter  of  God, 
go  on,  go  on."  She  knew  the  rest.  She  tells  us 
through  the  best  of  her  experiences,  and  on  to  the 
end  through  the  worst,  "For  that  I  was  born." 


16 JOAN  OF  ARC 

And  we  at  once  know  the  same  to  be  true  as  to 
ourselves,  because,  for  nothing  less  were  we  born, 
than  to  possess  eternity  through  faith,  and  to 
count  out,  in  harmony  with  it,  the  sands  of  time, 
one  by  one,  as  moments  of  intelligence  and  will. 

She  had  only  one  conception  of  what  she  stood 
for  before  the  throne  of  faith,  and  that  was  the  de- 
liverance of  right  from  the  might  of  wrong.  This 
simple  understanding  and  her  endeavor,  continued 
to  "the  last  full  measure  of  devotion,"  enthroned 
her  among  the  shining  ones  of  humanity  who  have 
kept  the  faith  and  fought  the  good  fight  for  the 
meaning  and  worth  of  a  soul.  But  hers  was  the 
task  to  uphold  the  great  white  light  of  life,  as  one 
long  besieged,  helpless  and  alone,  under  the  most 
desperate  mastery  and  the  maddest  learning  ever 
known.  Hers  was  the  most  extensive  and  merci- 
lessly tried-out  faith,  and  the  most  completely 
witnessed,  of  any  recorded  in  history.  The  pro- 
longed and  exhaustive  investigations  of  her  life, 
minutely  exacted  by  both  enemies  and  friends, 
reveal  all  that  can  be  known  of  any  one,  and  noth- 
ing could  be  found  but  the  noblest  of  human  souls. 
Peasants,  priests,  warriors,  poets,  historians, 
popes  and  kings,  alike  bear  evidence  of  the  pro- 
foundest  interest  in  her  wonderful  career.  Their 
testimony  for  her  reveals  the  most  significant  vi- 
sion of  womanhood  in  all  our  records  of  the 
human  struggle. 

The  series  of  events  composing  the  story  of  her 
deeds,  as  told  by  so  many  varieties  of  witnesses, 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS     17 

from  so  many  points  of  view,  are  consistent  only 
as  they  illustrate  a  way  of  triumph  and  martyr- 
dom unsurpassed  in  any  literature  or  history. 
Biographical  accuracy,  as  to  time,  place,  persons, 
explanations  and  statements,  or  the  varied  course 
of  events,  is  impossible,  and  is  not  essential  ex- 
cept as  it  concerns  the  character  of  her  faith 
whose  meaning  is  one  of  the  greatest  human 
values  ever  revealed  in  the  progress  of  man. 


6.  The  Meaning  of  Human  Life 

The  supreme  wonder-woman  of  the  world  said 
that  she  did  not  know  A  from  B,  but  she  made  an 
army  religious,  she  made  brutal  and  brutalized 
men  respect  all  the  mercies,  she  gave  courage  to 
cowards,  turned  highwaymen  into  patriots,  drove 
mercenaries  from  the  siege  of  cities,  and  in  a  few 
weeks  turned  the  tide  of  a  hundred  years'  war  so 
that  a  lost  nation  was  restored  to  the  civilization 
of  the  world. 

After  she  had  broken  the  will  of  war  in  her  war 
against  war,  and  aroused  a  world-wide  respect 
second  only  to  reverence  for  the  mother  of  Christ, 
she  was  seized  by  the  powers  of  church  and  state, 
and  through  long  and  desperate  months  con- 
founded the  most  learned  men  of  the  age,  defeated 
the  brutality  of  the  most  powerful  wills  in  Eu- 
rope, and  endured  in  suffering  far  exceeding  all 
that  any  man  had  ever  endured  in  keeping  the 
faith  of  man  and  God. 


18 JOAN  OF  ARC 

It  can  not  be  said  that  she  knew  better  than  we 
do  what  her  life  meant.  It  is  very  doubtful  if  she 
thought  of  a  meaning  for  her  life.  In  truth  it 
may  be  doubted  if  any  one  is  ever  born  with  vision 
enough  to  know  what  his  life  means.  We  can  be 
sure  of  nothing  except  that  meaning  exists  only 
in  a  faithful  life  upon  a  loyal  way. 

Even  as  in  ancient  times  a  wonderful  mother- 
woman  said,  so  she  said,  "Behold,  the  handmaid 
of  the  Lord;  be  it  unto  me  according  to  Thy 
word, ' '  and  she  went  forth  to  the  great  fulfillment 
and  the  great  victory. 

"Not  my  will  but  Thine  be  done"  was  the  sur- 
render she  made  to  her  soul  interest  as  being  her 
only  possible  destiny. 

She  proved  that  there  is  no  sign  from  God  but 
a  life  of  faith  even  as  there  is  no  sign  from  the 
eternal  law  but  the  ever  recurring  truth  of  the 
universe. 


7.  Patriotism  for  the  Democracy  of  the  World 

History  has  bequeathed  to  us  a  record  of  un- 
paralleled completeness  describing  Joan  of  Arc  as 
the  most  wonderful  woman  that  ever  lived  in  all 
the  experiences  of  mystic,  warrior  and  martyr. 
Art  has  supplemented  history  with  many  thou- 
sands of  books,  tragedies,  romances,  poems,  paint- 
ings and  statues  displaying  her  in  holy  entrance- 
ments,  in  the  wild  assaults  of  war,  and  in  the  final 
heroism  of  the  stake.  Ecclesiastic  council  in  the 


light  of  legend,  miracle  and  logic  doubted  her, 
accepted  her,  condemned  her,  burnt  her  and  made 
her  a  saint. 

Historians,  romancers,  poets,  painters,  sculptors 
and  ecclesiastics  have  those  interests,  but  such 
values  are  really  only  incidental  in  her  meaning 
for  humanity.  The  historical  and  the  art  work 
do  not  give  us  this  woman  any  more  than  they  give 
us  Christ  or  God.  The  immortal  wonder  of  her 
character  and  her  career  is  the  same  that  made 
Moses,  that  gave  us  Socrates,  that  sustained  Paul, 
that  worked  out  the  dream  of  religious  liberty, 
that  is  making  the  world  safe  for  democracy,  that 
will  make  democracy  safe  for  the  individual,  and 
that  shall  give  unto  humanity  the  mind  of  the 
universe  as  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Joan  of  Arc  was  faith  in  right  as  the  mind  of 
God.  Her  voices  and  the  light  in  which  they  live 
is  the  light  of  every  man  that  cometh  into  the 
world.  If  we  do  not  know  her  faith  we  have  no 
vision  of  the  woman.  If  we  do  not  understand 
her  hope  we  have  no  measure  for  her  career.  If 
we  do  not  appreciate  her  love  for  France  we  can 
have  no  understanding  of  her  meaning  for  hu- 
manity. We  have  not  yet  realized  what  is  that 
divine  meaning  which  is  given  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations  or  for  the  salvation  of  man,  the  faith 
that  removes  mountains  and  gives  the  victory 
over  death. 

Human  character  in  all  its  heights  and  depths, 
engulfed  in  human  wickedness  in  all  its  heights 


20 JOAN  OF  ARC 

and  depths,  with  human  faith  unsurpassably  en- 
during and  triumphant,  is  shown  in  Joan  of  Arc 
as  in  no  other  human  being  in  all  the  history  of 
mankind.  No  other  life,  inside  and  out,  is  so  thor- 
oughly revealed  as  a  human  document. 

Tennyson  in  his  Dream  of  Fair  Women  speaks 
of  her  as 

"Joan  of  Arc 
A  light  of  ancient  France." 

But  she  is  supremely  more.  In  exalting  the  vi- 
sion of  her,  we  are  lifting  on  high  her  Light  of 
Faith,  which  can  be  neither  described  nor  exag- 
gerated, and  the  light  of  France  is  seen  to  be  the 
Light  of  the  world. 

Lamartine  in  his  study  of  Joan  of  Arc  says, 
"All  nations  have  in  their  annals  some  of  those 
miracles  of  patriotism  in  which  a  woman  is  the 
instrument  in  the  hands  of  God.  When  every- 
thing is  desperate  in  the  cause  of  a  people,  we 
need  not  yet  despair,  if  the  spirit  of  resistance 
still  subsists  in  the  heart  of  woman.  .  .  .  This  is 
the  concentrated  recoil  and  reaction  of  a  whole 
nation  condensing  its  sufferings  into  the  heart  of 
one,  compressing  its  universal  wail  into  the  shriek 
of  a  woman,  and  thus  marvelously  accomplish- 
ing by  a  single  hand  the  salvation  of  all.  .  .  .  En- 
thusiasm is  a  holy  fire :  its  flame  can  not  be  ana- 
lyzed. .  .  .  Such  is  the  spirit  of  this  history, — a 
history  more  resembling  a  story  from  the  Bible 
than  an  episode  of  the  modern  world.  .  .  .  Her 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS     21 

mission  was  simply  the  bursting  into  action  of  pa- 
triotic faith.  She  lived  in  it,  and  died  through  it, 
and  she  was  lighted  to  victory  and  to  heaven  by 
the  flame  of  her  enthusiasm  as  well  as  of  her 
funeral  pyre.  Angel,  maiden,  warrior,  martyr, 
she  has  become  a  fit  blazon  for  the  soldier's  ban- 
ner,— a  type  of  France." 

Shakespeare  in  King  Henry  VI  wrote  a  wonder- 
ful prophecy  of  her  fame : 

"No  longer  in  Saint  Dennis  will  we  ery 
But  Joan  la  Purcelle  shall  be  France's  Saint." 

When  all  the  world  thought  her  bad,  he  said  in 
the  same  play: 

"No;  misconceived  Joan  of  Arc  hath  been 
A  virgin  from  her  tender  infancy, 
Chaste  and  immaculate  in  every  thought; 
Whose  maiden  blood,  thus  vigorously  effused 
Will  ery  for  vengeance  at  the  gates  of  heaven." 

8.  The  Price  Paid  for  Civilization 

Joan  of  Arc  is  probably  the  greatest  human  ex- 
ample that  ever  lived  of  what  constitutes  the  di- 
vinity in  man;  that  is,  the  faith  which  elevates 
human  nature  above  all  the  powers  of  the  world. 

The  exalted  faith  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans  and 
the  work  she  wrought  that  no  man  could  do,  makes 
of  her  a  singular  type  of  symbolism  for  woman. 

Thomas  De  Quincey  says,  "Pure,  innocent, 
noble-hearted  girl!  .  .  .  this  was  amongst  the 


22 JOAN  OF  ARC 

strongest  pledges  of  thy  truth,  that  never  once 
didst  thou  revel  in  vision  of  coronets  and  honor 
from  man.  ...  To  suffer  and  to  do,  that  was  thy 
portion  in  this  life,  that  was  thy  destiny." 

Ida  Tarbell  in  her  brief  review  of  Joan's  life, 
when  speaking  of  the  inquisition  says,  ''They 
went  to  her  when  she  was  ill  and  likely  to  die. 
But  they  could  not  touch  this  clean  white  thing. 
It  slipped  through  their  fingers  like  a  ray  of 
light." 

Samuel  L.  Clemens  in  his  Joan  of  Arc  says, 
' '  The  character  of  Joan  of  Arc  is  unique.  It  can 
be  measured  by  the  standards  of  all  times  without 
misgiving  or  apprehension  as  to  the  result. 
Judged  by  any  of  them,  judged  by  all  of  them,  it 
is  flawless,  it  is  still  ideally  perfect,  it  still  occu- 
pies the  loftiest  place  possible  to  human  attain- 
ment. ' ' 

What,  then,  is  the  loftiest  place  possible  in  hu- 
manity but  loyalty  to  the  ideal  of  human  life 
known  to  us  in  its  highest  consciousness  of  mind 
as  faith  in  God. 

The  splendid  characterization  made  by  Mark 
Twain  in  his  preface,  continues,  "She  was  per- 
haps the  only  entirely  unselfish  person  whose 
name  has  a  place  in  profane  history.  No  vestige 
or  suggestion  of  self-seeking  can  be  found  in  any 
word  or  deed  of  hers.  .  .  .  Joan  of  Arc,  a  mere 
child  in  years,  ignorant,  unlettered,  a  poor  village 
girl,  unknown  and  without  influence,  found  a  great 
nation  lying  in  chains,  helpless  and  hopeless  un- 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS    23 

der  an  alien  dominion,  its  treasury  bankrupt,  its 
soldiers  disheartened  and  dispersed,  all  spirit  tor- 
pid, all  courage  dead  in  the  hearts  of  the  people. 
.  .  .  she  laid  her  hand  upon  this  nation,  this 
corpse,  and  it  arose  and  followed  her.  She  led  it 
from  victory  to  victory,  she  turned  back  the  tide 
of  the  Hundred  Years'  War  .  .  .  earned  the  title 
of  Deliverer  of  France  .  .  .  and  French  priests 
took  the  noble  child,  the  most  innocent,  the  most 
lovely,  the  most  adorable  the  ages  have  produced, 
and  burned  her  alive  at  the  stake." 

Carlyle,  severe  critic  as  he  was,  describes  "The 
radiance  of  her  heart  ...  as  clouds  are  gilded 
by  the  orient  light  into  something  more  beautiful 
than  azure  itself. ' '  Ghiizot  declares  that  * '  History 
does  not  offer  a  like  example  so  pure  and  effica- 
cious resting  on  divine  inspiration  and  patriotic 
hope."  Andrew  Lang  wrote  that  "Spenser  and 
Ariosto  could  not  create,  and  Shakespeare  could 
not  imagine,  such  a  being  as  Jeanne  d'Arc. " 

9.  The  Bright  and  Morning  Star 

Previous  to  the  time  of  Joan  of  Arc,  France 
could  hardly  be  called  a  nation.  There  was  no 
unity  of  language,  allegiance  or  government. 
Joan  of  Arc  was  not  only  the  heart  from  which 
France  came  forth  delivered  and  restored,  but 
also  created  and  established.  It  is  not  enough  to 
call  her  the  Deliverer  of  France,  but,  measuring 
her  by  the  soul  and  mind  she  gave  to  the  masses 


24 JOAN  OF  ARC 

of  the  French  people,  she  was  herself  France,  the 
mind  and  soul  of  France. 

For  a  hundred  years  before  the  time  of  Joan 
of  Arc,  wars  had  swept  over  France  like  a  pesti- 
lence and  had  left  a  trail  of  ruin  like  a  hurricane. 
Petrarch  visiting  France  about  sixty  years  before 
her  time  says,  "Nothing  presented  itself  to  my 
eyes  but  a  fearful  solitude,  an  extreme  poverty, 
lands  uncultivated,  houses  in  ruins." 

De  Seres  about  a  score  of  years  before  her  birth 
describes  the  unhappy  land  in  the  same  terms, 
saying,  "In  sooth  the  estate  of  France  was  most 
miserable.  There  appeared  nothing  but  a  horri- 
ble face,  confusion,  poverty,  desolation,  solitari- 
ness and  fear." 

What  a  life  into  which  a  child  should  be  born ! 
What  could  it  have  of  social  mind  for  the  mean- 
ing of  humanity!  In  such  conditions  was  born  a 
mind  that  did  not  believe  this  way  to  be  the  desire 
of  God,  and  that  girl  of  faith  became  for  all  time 
the  noblest  knight  of  Europe  and  one  of  the  king- 
liest  characters  of  all  the  world. 

Louis  Kossuth,  the  Hungarian  patriot,  said, 
"Consider  the  unique  and  imposing  distinction. 
Since  the  writing  of  human  history  began,  Joan 
of  Arc  is  the  only  person  of  either  sex  who  has 
ever  held  supreme  command  of  the  military  forces 
of  a  nation  at  the  age  of  seventeen." 

Truly  that  distinction  is  quite  unparalleled  and 
strange,  but  far  more  amazing  than  this  spectacu- 
lar distiii  <L*'vn  is  the  faith  she  found  and  kept. 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS     25 

Voices,  power,  glory  and  martyrdom  are  wonder- 
ful enough,  but  the  sounds  she  heard  in  the  vesper 
bells,  the  victory  of  mighty  assaults  against  con- 
querors, the  confusion  she  brought  upon  the  black 
wit  of  monstrous  men,  and  the  agony  of  chains 
and  fire,  are  all  merely  the  unaccountable  wonders 
that  attend  her  as  incidents,  giving  historical  body 
to  the  power  of  faith  possible  in  the  human  soul. 
According  to  the  most  reliable  descriptions 
gathered  from  those  who  knew  her,  she  was  a 
little  above  medium  height  and  of  strong  endur- 
ing body.  Her  eyes  were  of  dark  blue,  her  hair 
long,  thick  and  very  dark.  Her  face  was  of  boy- 
ish cast,  but  so  fair,  clear  and  brave  that  it  was 
beautiful  and  trustworthy  from  the  first  glance 
of  the  observer.  In  her  moments  of  reserve  or 
resolution,  she  had  the  stolid  look  of  the  op- 
pressed peasant,  but  it  was  said  that  when  the 
enthusiasm  of  her  faith  was  in  some  great  test 
of  realization,  her  whole  being  was  quickened 
with  power,  her  face  shone  with  such  a  noble  zeal 
that  cowards  turned  to  fight  unto  death  for  her 
cause,  irreligious  blasphemers  became  decent  and 
orderly  in  conduct,  brigands  quit  their  plundering 
to  become  patriots,  and  many  an  observer  sud- 
denly cried  out  in  all  sincerity,  "Behold  the  face 
of  an  angel."  Only  gospel-hardened  priests, 
prayer-palsied  ecclesiastics,  and  the  mad  logicians 
of  the  Church  universities  were  perverted  enough 
from  Christian  faith  to  be  untouched  by  her  di- 
vine purpose,  and  to  be  merciless  in  the  presence 


26 JOAN  OF  ARC 

of  her  wonderful  womanhood.  The  life  she  gave 
to  Faith  affords  the  most  obvious  evidence  that 
when  the  mind  becomes  fast-locked  in  the  logic  of 
individual  will  it  is  without  mercy  or  justice,  and 
in  Satanic  sovereignty  fulfills  itself  without  re- 
gard to  man  or  God. 

The  universe,  as  embodied  in  nature,  in  the  cre- 
ative process  of  man,  has  not  entrusted  his  most 
essential  and  vital  interests  either  to  his  intellect 
or  his  will.  They  are  too  weak,  unreliable,  insuf- 
ficient and  limited.  The  heart  does  not  beat  and 
the  brain  does  not  work  according  to  intellect  or 
will.  Neither  is  birth  or  death  a  process  in  the 
wisdom  of  man,  but  as  children  need  the  intelli- 
gence and  will  of  parents,  so  do  the  mature  need 
the  intelligence  and  will  of  society,  even  as  society 
is  safe  only  in  the  intelligence  and  will  of  the  uni- 
verse. In  such  "justification  by  faith"  lived  and 
died  Joan  of  Arc.  Her  life  appears  with  meaning 
according  to  the  interest  or  need  that  approaches 
it.  As  a  patron  saint  of  France,  she  is  no  less  a 
patron-meaning  to  Americans. 

Creasy,  in  his  analytical  discussion  of  the  bat- 
tles that  have  been  most  important  in  the  process 
and  progress  of  civilization,  ranks  her  victorious 
struggle  at  Orleans  as  one  of  the  *  *  fifteen  decisive 
battles  of  the  world, ' '  and  thus  places  her,  for  that 
alone,  as  one  of  the  greatest  benefactors,  and 
among  the  foremost  warriors  of  history.  More 
than  that,  this  lowly  girl  gave  a  life,  as  loyal  as 
was  ever  known,  in  illustrious  revelation  of  the 


INTRODUCTORY  INTERESTS     27 

religious  principle  that  became  the  protestant  ref- 
ormation.   As  her  Lord  was  the  greatest  martyr 
of  humanity,  so  was  she  the  greatest  martyr  of 
Christianity,  for  that  freedom  of  conscience  in   +Si* 
which  "the  just  shall  live  by  faith."    Nearly  a     *J 
hundred  years  before  Martin  Luther  nailed  his    <x> 
fundamental  propositions  on  the  cathedral  door, 
she  perished  at  the  stake  for  her  loyalty  to  a  life 
of  "justification  by  faith,"  and  that  life  was  af- 
terward enrolled  among  the  saints  by  the  Roman 
Catholic  church. 

Historians  find  a  completed  period  of  ancient 
civilization  revealing  its  characteristic  achieve- 
ments around  the  cross  of  Christ,  and  likewise, 
the  mediaeval  period,  known  as  the  dark  ages, 
came  to  a  close  defining  itself  around  the  stake 
that  held  Joan  of  Arc.  The  flames  that  lighted  her 
soul  through  the  gates  of  glory  illuminated  the 
degenerate  despotism  of  the  Middle  Ages,  as  the 
cross  illustrated  the  selfish  masteries  of  the  an- 
cient world.  The  lessons  of  both  are  supreme 
with  divine  meaning  for  the  American  people  and 
the  progress  of  human  life.  The  Carpenter  Man 
built  a  place  in  "the  house  of  many  mansions" 
for  all  the  children  of  faith,  and  he  prepared  the 
Way  which  the  shepherd  girl  kept,  through  every 
tribulation,  revealing  how  all  may  keep  the  Faith 
and  Way  on  and  on  as  the  Kingdom  of  God. 


CHAPTER  H 
ORIGINS  FOR  A  WONDERFUL  FAITH 

1.  The  People  and  the  Times 

AN  ancient  prophecy  in  France,  that  was  re- 
vived about  the  year  1400,  was  that  the  kingdom 
would  some  time  be  brought  to  ruin  by  a  woman 
and  would  be  restored  by  a  daughter  of  the  peo- 
ple. The  popular  version  was  that  a  maid  would 
come  out  of  the  deep  forests  of  the  Vosges  that 
were  visible  from  the  doors  of  the  village  Dom- 
remy. 

The  first  part  of  the  prophecy  was  already  true. 

Queen  Isabeau  of  Bavaria  had  been  married  at 
the  age  of  fourteen  to  Charles  VI,  a  youth  of 
twenty-four,  who  was  old  with  licentious  dissipa- 
tion and  weak  from  every  exhaustive  emotion  of 
excess.  For  thirty  years  he  was  an  amiable  im- 
becile, most  of  the  time  too  weak  in  mind  to  care 
for  himself.  His  wife  for  her  cruelty  and  in- 
trigues became  known  and  hated  as  the  she-wolf 
of  the  kingdom.  Bloody  civil  wars  demoralized 
and  degraded  the  nation.  Then  it  was  that  Henry 
V  of  England  -thought  the  time  ripe  to  assert  the 
ancient  claim  of  the  Plantagenets  to  the  crown  of 
France.  At  the  famous  battle  of  Agincourt,  in 

28 


ORIGINS  FOR  A  FAITH          29 

1415,  he  destroyed  the  French  army  and  then  went 
home  to  complete  the  conquest  later  at  his  leisure. 
In  the  days  that  followed,  it  is  said  that  children 
died  in  the  streets  of  the  cities  like  flies,  for  hun- 
ger, and  wolves  came  into  Paris  at  night  and  fed 
on  the  unburied  bodies  of  the  dead.  Life  became 
worthless,  men  went  wild  in  horrible  deeds  and 
vast  numbers  of  the  people  lived  like  beasts. 

The  King  of  England  returned  in  1419,  and 
completed  his  conquest  with  the  siege  of  Rouen. 

Isabeau,  courting  the  favor  of  Henry  V,  dis- 
owned her  son  and  gave  her  daughter  as  wife  to 
the  English  king,  thus  confirming  his  authority 
as  king  of  France.  The  following  year  Henry  V 
died  and  his  infant  son  was  proclaimed  king  of 
England  and  France. 

2.  The  Lawful  Heir  to  an  Outlawed  Throne 

Meanwhile,  the  imbecile  husband  of  Queen  Isa- 
beau, Charles  VI,  had  died,  and  a  few  unrecon- 
ciled French  knights  proclaimed  his  son  Charles, 
the  dauphin,  as  king  of  France,  and  began  to 
gather  an  army  around  his  standard. 

Charles  VII  was  only  nineteen  years  of  age, 
and  little  better  mentally  than  his  father,  though 
morally,  strange  to  say,  a  much  more  respectable 
man.  His  attempts  to  regain  the  territory  of 
France  were  crushed  in  two  great  defeats,  and  he 
retired  to  live  inactive  in  the  seclusion  of  Poitiers. 
But  terrible  marauding  parties  in  his  name,  and 


JOAN  OF  ARC 


under  cover  of  patriotism,  devastated  the  sur- 
rounding country  until  it  became  a  wilderness 
where  no  peaceful  citizens  dared  to  live.  The 
whole  country  was  in  a  state  of  anarchy  and  utter 
ruin.  At  last  even  hope  was  lost,  when  suddenly 
there  arose  a  power  in  the  valley  of  the  Meuse. 
It  was  as  if  the  other  portion  of  the  ancient  proph- 
ecy was  about  to  come  true,  and  that  "a  maid  of 
the  people"  had  been  divinely  called  to  redeem 
the  land  from  the  curse  of  a  woman. 

3.  Childhood  of  the  Wonderful  Womcm 

Historical  evidence,  according  to  the  most  emi- 
nent authorities,  seems  to  verify  the  date  January 
6,  1412,  as  the  day  when  a  child  was  born  unique 
in  the  history  of  civilization. 

Jeanne  d'Arc,  romantically  known  as  "the 
Maid  of  Orleans,"  was  the  fourth  child  of  Jacques 
d'Arc,  a  prosperous  villager  of  Domremy,  on  the 
left  bank  of  the  Meuse  in  the  lowlands  of  Lor- 
raine. Strange  to  say,  for  that  far  off  period, 
now  more  than  five  hundred  years  ago,  we  have 
the  most  minute  descriptions  of  her  life,  abun- 
dantly given  from  both  herself  and  her  neigh- 
bors, and  it  is  all  as  authentic  as  any  other  sworn 
testimony  in  history.  She  says  of  herself,  "I 
learned  well  to  believe,  and  have  been  brought  up 
well  and  duly  to  do  what  a  good  child  ought  to 
do."  She  had  a  truly  wonderful  mother  whose 
name  was  Isabeau  Romee,  her  given  name  being 


ORIGINS  FOR  A  FAITH          31 

the  same  as  that  of  the  wicked  queen  and  the  sur- 
name indicating  a  parentage  that  had  some  time 
earned  the  name  Romee  by  a  pious  pilgrimage  to 
Rome. 

There  was  much  that  was  marvelous  attested 
by  many  witnesses,  but  the  marvelous,  whether 
accepted  or  rejected,  in  no  way  alters  the  wonder- 
working faith  of  her  life.  Her  mother  had  a  very 
vivid  dream,  which  she  told  to  many  friends,  that 
she  would  give  birth  to  a  great  warrior.  Merlin 
the  warlock  had  made  a  prophecy,  that  had  be- 
come famous  in  those  suffering  regions,  that  "A 
wonderful  Maid  would  come  from  the  regions  of 
the  Oak  Wood  for  the  healing  of  the  nations." 
Marie  d 'Avignon  had  suffered  so  many  things  in 
a  dream  that  she  came  with  it  to  the  mad  king 
Charles  VI,  declaring  that  a  Maid  was  to  put  on 
armor  and  be  the  salvation  of  France.  The  won- 
der-world recorded  these  interests  as  essential  to 
her  history  or  as  necessary  to  the  explanation  of 
her  life,  but  whether  so  or  not,  she  had  the  faith 
that  was  greater  than  will  and  revealed  a  way 
that  we  now  know  is  the  heritage  of  every  normal 
believer  in  the  righteous  might  of  the  moral  uni- 
verse. 

4.  Wonder-Stories  Told  by  Credulous  Neighbors 

Boulainvilliers  wrote  a  letter  to  the  Duke  of 
Milan  in  which  he  says  that  on  the  night  when 
Joan  was  born,  a  strange  ecstasy  possessed  all 


82 JOAN  OF  ARC 

the  peasants  of  Domremy  and  throughout  the 
night  they  ran  around  through  the  darkness  be- 
side themselves  as  of  something  marvelous  that 
had  come  to  pass.  They  sang  sweet  songs  and 
danced  in  rhythmic  figures,  in  token  of  the  salva- 
tion they  felt  coming  to  their  devastated  country. 

It  would  take  volumes  to  tell  all  the  wonder- 
stories  recorded  of  her  childhood,  but  they  only 
increase  the  evidence  of  the  pathetic  yearning 
magnifying  every  expression  of  hope  in  the  minds 
of  the  suffering  people.  It  may  explain  the  mean- 
ing of  her  wonderful  life  to  see  in  her  the  psycho- 
logical demonstration  of  a  religious  patriotic 
mind,  becoming  the  organizing  center  of  environ- 
ment for  the  social  process  of  making  the  world 
safe  for  the  rights  of  man. 

Boulainvilliers,  according  to  investigations 
made  twenty  years  after  her  death,  among  the 
people  of  Domremy,  tells  how  they  understood 
that  the  idea  of  her  mission  first  came  into  her 
mind.  She  with  her  girl  playmates  were  watch- 
ing their  sheep,  when  they  decided  to  run  a  race 
for  some  flowers.  Joan  seemed  to  fly  to  the  goal. 
Her  companions  declared  that  her  feet  did  not 
touch  the  ground.  When  they  reached  her  they 
found  her  in  an  ecstasy  among  the  flowers.  Then 
she  said  that  a  youth  standing  near  her  had  told 
her  to  go  home  as  her  mother  wanted  her.  But, 
on  returning  to  the  house,  she  found  her  mother 
displeased  that  she  had  left  the  sheep.  So,  think- 
ing that  a  joke  had  been  played  upon  her,  she 


ORIGINS  FOR  A  FAITH          33 

returned  to  the  meadow.  But  all  was  hid  from 
view  by  a  bright  cloud  out  of  which  came  a  voice 
bidding  her  to  change  her  way  of  life,  so  as  to  be 
more  prayerful,  because  the  King  of  Heaven  had 
chosen  her  to  do  marvelous  deeds  for  the  king 
of  France.  This  was  in  the  summer  of  1425,  when 
she  was  thirteen  years  of  age.  She  was  greatly 
troubled  what  to  do,  when,  a  few  days  later,  ac- 
cording to  the  records  of  her  story,  as  she  was 
alone  in  the  fields,  Michael,  the  Warrior  of  Heav- 
en, came  to  her  and  revealed  to  her  what  she 
should  do  to  make  herself  strong  for  her  task 
to  save  France. 

However  superstitious  in  origin  the  prophecies 
were,  arising  out  of  the  pitiful  miseries  of  the  peo- 
ple in  that  ignorant  age,  and  however  much  the 
ignorance  and  the  suffering  gave  rise  to  the  career 
of  this  strangely  inspired  girl,  there  yet  remains 
the  clear  vision  of  her  loyal  struggle  against 
wrong,  which  reveals  to  actual  experience  the  in- 
finite social  difference  between  faith  and  will  in 
the  freedom  and  morality  of  man.  The  life  of  her 
which  we  need  most  to  know,  in  the  present  prog- 
ress of  society,  is  that  of  the  real  woman  divested 
of  the  ignorance  and  superstition  of  the  times. 
She  is  not  to  be  seen  even  in  the  light  of  her  own 
explanations,  because  it  can  hardly  be  supposed 
that  she  clearly  knew  herself  or  understood  the 
dreadfully  beclouded  way.  Her  faith  in  the  pres- 
ence of  righteous  might  for  human  rights  may 


34 JOAN  OF  ARC 

have  been  miraculous,  but  the  miracle  is  equally 
ready  for  every  normal  mind. 

Perhaps  it  is  miraculous  for  some  one  in  an 
age  of  chaos  to  do  the  right  thing  in  the  right 
way,  and  to  gather  a  collective  mind  sufficient  for 
victory  in  a  great  cause  of  humanity,  but  her  sur- 
roundings no  more  explain  the  origin  of  her  char- 
acter, or  the  loyalty  of  her  career,  than  Athens 
created  Socrates  or  Jerusalem  accounts  for 
Christ.  She  often  went  where  she  did  not  know, 
and  her  own  eternal  urge,  welling  up  from  the 
infinite  depths  of  her  being,  were  believed  by  her 
to  be  this  voice  divine,  saying  to  her,  "Go  on, 
Daughter  of  God,  go  on,"  and  it  was  enough  for 
leader  and  guide  to  victory  and  to  death. 

• 
5.  Explaining  the  Miracle  of  Faith 

The  Maid  of  Orleans  is  wholly  enveloped  in  a 
cloud  of  imagination  composing  the  surrounding 
public  mind.  Some  try  to  picture  her  as  a  little 
country  girl  incapable  of  the  deeds  recorded  of 
her.  In  order  to  explain  the  vast  national  events 
that  took  place  in  her  name,  they  make  her  appear 
to  be  only  a  most  visionary  mystic  used  as  a  dupe 
through  which  ambitious  leaders  could  control  and 
unify  the  people.  Religious  writers  account  for 
the  stupendous  results  as  possible  only  from  one 
directly  inspired  and  strengthened  for  this  great 
work  by  Divine  Providence.  Others  of  merely 
material  views,  believing  that  she  herself  initiated 


ORIGINS  FOR  A  FAITH          35 

and  developed  the  power  that  restored  France, 
have  accounted  for  her  as  being  a  great  military 
genius,  able  to  see  what  should  be  done,  and  thus 
seeing,  was  able  to  convince  able  men  that,  through 
her  leadership,  they  could  reach  success.  Some 
account  for  it  all  by  picturing  brave  soldiers  wait- 
ing, as  it  were,  ready  for  the  word  that  she  hap- 
pened to  give,  but  the  history  of  various  tragic 
events  bears  no  such  appearance. 

The  many  histories  that  have  thus  been  built 
upon  her  career,  each  pictures  a  woman  wholly 
distinct  in  character  and  personality  from  the 
others.  There  is  nothing  with  which  to  refute  the 
argument  for  either  of  these  various  historical 
characters  known  to  us  as  Joan  of  Arc,  but,  from 
a  common-sense  view  of  the  whole  situation,  the 
real  woman  appears  to  be  only  one  thing,  and  that 
is  faith  in  the  presence  of  God  and  His  righteous 
might  being  in  all  work  done  for  the  rights  of 
man.  Exalted  in  the  intelligence  and  power  of 
that  faith  she  moved  on  her  way  through  the 
swarming  hosts  of  both  good  and  evil  to  the  final 
restoration  of  a  national  France. 

As  we  read  the  critical  delineations  that  have 
been  labeled  Joan  of  Arc,  they  each  seem  so  con- 
sistent as  to  appear  quite  convincing,  even  down 
to  the  trial  when  she  suffered  martyrdom  as  a 
witch,  when  it  looked  as  if  it  were  historically  set- 
tled that  she  had  duped  all  her  followers  and  had 
been  the  dupe  of  ambitious  men.  It  could  truly 
be  said  of  her,  in  paraphrase  of  another  Wonder- 


36 JOAN  OF  ARC 

ful  Vision  in  human  history,  "She  could  save 
France  but  herself  she  could  not  save.'* 


6.  A  Glimpse  at  Simple  Childhood 

We  have  abundant  evidence,  unmistakably  au- 
thentic, that  the  little  country  girl  of  Domremy 
grew  up  healthy  and  strong,  wholesome  and  happy 
as  her  companions,  indistinguishable  from  the 
other  bright  and  well-kept  children  of  her  age. 
She  was  surrounded  by  superstitions  and  relig- 
ious fancies  that  were  almost  a  normal  condition 
considering  the  equal  distribution  of  such  pious 
imagination  among  all  the  people.  Wild  boars 
and  wolves  abounded  in  the  near-by  forests  and 
sprites  and  fairies  peopled  the  streams  and  mead- 
ows. Charms  and  spells  and  prayers  of  many 
varieties  were  believed  to  be  necessary  to  protect 
life  and  promote  every  interest. 

At  her  trial  in  Rouen,  she  talked  freely  as  a 
child  about  these  things  to  her  judges,  but  never- 
theless she  used  the  most  commendable  wisdom, 
considering  the  fearful  meaning  all  her  words 
might  bear  for  her  before  those  men,  and  the  prej- 
udiced ignorance  that  possessed  all  concerning 
such  ideas.  She  told  her  judges  that  she  had  never 
seen  such  things  though  her  godmother,  who  was 
a  truthful  woman,  had  seen  many  visions  of  spir- 
its and  fairies. 

There  was  a  great  oak  in  Domremy,  which  the 
people  believed  to  be  the  home  of  the  fairies.  The 


ORIGINS  FOR  A  FAITH          37 

Lords  of  the  Manor  each  year  held  a  great  festi- 
val there  and  the  children  danced  around  the  tree 
and  sang  songs.  The  judges  at  Rouen,  so  cruelly 
trying  to  fasten  on  her  the  charge  of  being  a  witch, 
asked  her  about  that  tree.  She  described  the 
scenes,  and  her  language  was  written  down  and 
is  still  preserved,  in  which  she  said,  "I  have  often 
seen  the  little  girls  putting  garlands  on  the 
branches  of  this  tree,  and  I  myself  have  some- 
times put  them  there  with  my  companions.  Some- 
times we  took  the  garlands  away,  sometimes  we 
left  them.  Since  I  have  grown  up  I  do  not  re- 
member to  have  danced  there.  I  have  danced 
there  with  other  children,  but  I  have  sung  there 
more  than  danced." 

One  of  the  stanzas  the  girls  sang  thoughtlessly 
around  the  Fairies'  Tree  was: 

"Airy  fairy  of  the  tree 
Made  of  dust  and  dew  and  fire, 
Now  no  bigger  than  the  bee, 
Taller  now  than  tallest  spire, 
Grant  my  heart's  desire  to  me, 
Grant  to  me  my  heart's  desire." 

7.  A  Great  Pity  for  France 

The  religious  mind  of  such  a  devoted  soul  might 
easily  have  become  possessed  of  the  faith  that  she 
was  the  Maid  to  be  called  from  heaven  to  restore 
God's  kingdom  in  France.  She  may  have  so  con- 
secrated herself  to  such  an  idea  that  all  her  mind 
and  soul  and  body  grew  up  to  that  divine  end. 


38 JOAN  OF  ARC 

But  even  so,  this  in  no  way  invalidates  the  power 
of  faith  within  her  for  great  deeds  in  the  rights 
of  man  as  the  cause  of  God. 

At  last  the  time  came  in  the  midst  of  prayerful 
meditation  when  she  heard  a  voice  proclaiming 
her  as  the  one  chosen  to  restore  France.  So  she 
trained  herself  in  saintly  ways,  not  as  a  mystic, 
but  as  one  doing  God's  work  in  the  world.  It  was 
said  in  the  sworn  testimony  of  one  who  knew  her 
well  that,  "In  her  village  she  passed  for  a  pru- 
dent, industrious  girl  of  blameless  behavior,  God- 
fearing and  charitable,  a  daughter  to  be  a  bless- 
ing in  her  father's  house."  This  does  not  de- 
scribe a  mystic  but  the  mind  of  a  common-sense 
girl.  She  grew  up  to  be  a  beautiful  and  stately 
young  woman,  eager  to  understand  the  times  and 
the  people  of  her  country. 

As  to  the  miraculous  in  her  mind,  one  thing  is 
sure,  she  did  not  receive  her  inspiration  from  any 
experience  in  Domremy.  As  she  said,  "I  felt  the 
great  pity  there  was  in  France."  In  her  belief, 
it  was  God's  kingdom  then  in  the  hands  of  his  ene- 
mies, and  her  faith  was  that  any  effort  against  the 
enemies  of  right  would  have  the  protection  and 
help  of  God. 

8.  Voices  and  the  Summons  to  Faith 

Joan's  visions  began,  according  to  her  own 
story,  in  the  midst  of  the  times  when  all  the  sur- 
rounding country  was  being  ravaged  by  bandits 


ORIGINS  FOR  A  FAITH          39 

from  the  various  army  camps  of  invading  forces. 
Domremy  had  somehow  escaped  these  savage 
raids.  Only  once  had  the  village  been  looted  and 
all  the  stock  driven  off.  But  even  then,  prompt 
help  arrived,  as  by  chance,  the  robbers  were  fol- 
lowed, driven  off  and  the  cattle  restored. 

It  was  soon  after  this,  when,  one  May  day  at 
noon,  according  to  one  of  the  records,  she  was  at 
work  in  her  father's  garden,  which  was  between 
her  home  and  the  church,  a  small  plot  of  ground 
alongside  the  graveyard.  She  says  that  she  sud- 
denly became  aware  of  a  bright  light  on  her  right 
side  toward  the  church.  In  the  midst  of  the  light 
was  a  colossal  figure  of  the  archangel  Michael, 
surrounded  by  his  angels.  She  said  she  recog- 
nized the  figure  at  once  as  Saint  Michael  because 
she  had  often  seen  his  image  in  churches.  She 
was  much  frightened  but  the  vision  soon  faded 
away.  But  after  that  the  vision  returned  fre- 
quently and  she  felt  a  wonderful  peace  of  soul 
whenever  the  white  light  shone  about  her.  Pres- 
ently she  ventured  to  ask  what  the  saint  wanted 
of  her  and  the  reply  came  like  the  sound  of  vesper 
bells,  "Be  a  good  girl"  was  the  burden  of  every 
response.  "Be  a  good  girl,  Jeannette,  be  a  good 
girl  and  God  will  aid  thee." 

One  day  the  voice  said,  "  Saint  Catherine  and 
Saint  Margaret  will  come  to  thee.  Act  according 
to  their  advice;  for  they  are  appointed  to  guide 
thee  and  counsel  thee  in  all  that  thou  hast  to  do, 
and  thou  mayst  believe  what  they  shall  say  unto 


40 JOAN  OF  ARC 

thee."  Presently  they  came  and  she  so  loved 
them  that  she  wished  they  could  have  taken  her 
away  with  them. 

At  first  their  voices  and  their  desire  were  not 
clear,  except  that  she  must  help  France.  Then 
she  took  these  voices  as  her  guide,  they  became 
her  voice  of  faith,  and  she  gave  them  the  last  full 
measure  of  human  devotion,  asking  nothing  but 
the  salvation  of  her  soul. 


9.  From  Whence  Cometh  Faith 

She  was  full  of  prophesying  and,  girl-like,  could 
not  keep  her  secret.  On  the  eve  of  St.  John's, 
probably  a  month  after  she  had  made  her  first 
effort  to  interest  the  military  commander,  she  met 
a  well-behaved  boy  whom  she  knew  well,  and  she 
said,  "  Michel  Lebuin,  between  Coussey  and  Vau- 
couleurs  is  a  girl,  who,  in  less  than  a  year  from 
now,  will  lead  the  Dauphin  to  Rheims  and  cause 
him  to  be  anointed  King  of  France." 

Another  day  she  met  Gerardin  d'Epinel,  a  good 
man  whom  she  did  not  like  because  he  was  un- 
friendly to  the  cause  of  France.  Though  she  had 
taken  the  place  at  the  baptismal  font  as  godmoth- 
er to  his  infant  son,  she  could  not  tell  him  clearly 
what  was  flowering  in  her  soul,  yet  she  said,  "You 
gossip,  if  you  were  not  a  Burgundian  there  is 
something  I  would  tell  you." 

Her  endeavors  to  be  good  as  her  voices  told  her 
did  not  mean  the  suppressing  of  her  being  the  one 


ORIGINS  FOR  A  FAITH          41 

chosen  to  restore  the  kingdom  from  the  ruin  of 
Queen  Isabeau.  All  the  village  knew  her  dreams, 
and,  while  some  wondered,  many  pointed  to  her 
mockingly,  saying,  "There  goes  she  who  is  to  re- 
store the  royal  house  and  redeem  France." 

No  one  of  all  her  critics  has  ever  thought  of 
questioning  her  sincerity.  All  students  of  her  his- 
tory know  that  she  believed  what  she  said.  There 
could  be  no  doubt  among  her  neighbors  nor  the 
people  of  her  time,  as  to  her  being  inspired. 
Every  one  from  the  home  peasants  to  the  learned 
doctors  from  the  University  of  Paris  believed 
she  had  supernatural  guidance.  The  only  ques- 
tion was,  whether  her  visions  and  voices  came 
from  Satan  or  God.  This  question  was  as  easily 
settled  then  as  are  questions  of  good  or  bad  set- 
tled now.  Was  it  for  or  against  the  person  pass- 
ing judgment?  If  against,  then  it  was  of  Satan; 
if  for,  then  it  was  of  God.  Those  whom  she  op- 
posed, when  they  had  her  body  in  their  power, 
burnt  her;  those  who  at  last  realized  her  value 
to  their  needs,  were  honest  enough,  when  they 
could  do  nothing  better,  to  redeem  her  name  and 
declare  her  a  saint.  We  may  not  always  be  sure 
when  judgment  is  free  from  will.  But  the  great 
idea  was  not  her  value  for  or  against,  it  was  the 
revelation  of  faith  as  the  infinite  meaning  and 
power  of  life  in  victory  over  death  and  hell.  This 
revelation  is  not  mystic,  nor  superstitious,  nor  re- 
ligious, but  the  natural  recognition  of  eternal  con- 
sistency in  the  moral  universe. 


CHAPTER   HI 

EARLY   INTERESTS   IN   THE   GREAT 
CAUSE 

1,  In  the  Lowlands  of  Lorraine 

IN  the  river  Meuse,  near  Domremy,  there  was 
an  island  in  the  center  of  which  was  an  ancient 
fortified  castle,  partially  in  ruins.  Joan's  father 
with  other  land  proprietors  leased  the  island  as 
a  place  where  they  could  drive  their  flocks  and 
defend  themselves,  when  endangered  by  the 
hordes  of  zuffians  that  ranged  over  the  country 
ravaging  and  slaying  at  will  in  the  name  of  the 
insane  king  and  the  wicked  queen.  On  holidays 
the  people  had  festivals  on  the  romantic  island 
and  the  children  played  at  battles  and  sieges. 

How  we  can  dream  of  what  visions  might  have 
passed  through  the  mind  of  the  wonder-child  as 
she  wandered  about  through  those  romantic  ruins ! 
Could  she  in  her  wonderful  imagination  restore 
the  battling  hosts  that  had  surged  around  those 
walls,  and  the  victorious  displays  made  by  the 
Lords  of  War!  What  did  she  dream  prophetic 
of  her  immortal  name  and  what  did  she  see  of 
crowns  and  kings  and  the  courtly  world! 

Jacques  d'Arc,  Jeanne's  father,  was  a  man  of 

42 


EARLY  INTERESTS 43 

popular  influence  and  strong  character.  Two 
years  before  Joan  declared  her  mission,  lie  had  a 
disturbing  dream.  He  awoke  with  the  noise  of 
battle  in  his  ears  and  a  vision  in  his  eyes  of  his 
daughter  riding  away  in  armor  with  men  of  war. 
He  furiously  declared  to  his  sons  that  such  a 
dream  was  a  terrible  dishonor,  and  must  not  come 
true.  "If  such  a  thing  should  happen,"  he  said, 
"you  must  drown  her  or  I  will." 

However  little  or  much  we  may  believe  in  super- 
natural visitations,  or  the  testimony  that  endeav- 
ors to  describe  them  as  experiences,  we  do  not  yet 
know  enough  to  dismiss  them  from  the  life  of 
Joan  of  Arc,  and  equally  that  same  ignorance  is 
unable  to  demand  that  they  be  accepted  as  com- 
munications from  supernatural  truth. 


2.  Hopeless  Misery  and  Superior  Faith 

Joan  lived  in  an  age  of  faith,  though  it  was  often 
blind  in  credulities  of  ignorance,  but  there  can  be 
no  doubt  that  her  mind  was  religious  wholly  in 
every  essence,  that  she  was  in  all  truth  a  sublime 
religious  soul.  In  a  distracted  and  suffering 
world,  how  else  could  such  a  soul  live  except  as  a 
dedicated  spirit,  dedicated  to  the  greatest  need 
of  her  time.  Is  it  not  so  of  the  saints  and  martyrs 
and  heroes  of  all  ages?  The  religious  soul  is  the 
dedicated  life.  The  religious  mind  has  a  work  to 
do  and  for  such  cause  was  it  brought  into  the 
world.  There  is  probably  no  other  mission  for 


44 JOAN  OF  ARC 

any  one  brought  into  the  world  and  no  other  hu- 
man reason  for  any  one  being  born. 

She  can  not  be  classed  as  a  mystic,  for  religious 
mysticism  has  more  the  appearance  of  religious 
hypnotism.  She  lived  only  to  realize  her  faith  in 
works.  There  was  in  her  no  characteristic  of  the 
mystic.  She  was  quick  with  expedients,  always 
intelligent  and  alert,  always  living  normally  the 
life  around  her.  Orthodox  symbols  and  methods 
were  a  part  of  her  religious  customs,  but  her  faith 
drove  straight  to  the  mark  and  she  had  little  use 
in  her  mission  for  clerks,  priests  and  diplomats. 
According  to  her  view,  the  king  was  entitled  to  his 
throne  only  as  he  dealt  right  with  his  people  as  a 
political  agent  of  God.  Almost  the  first  idea  we 
find  her  mind  centering  upon  was,  as  she  said,  "I 
had  a  great  will  and  desire  that  my  king  should 
have  his  kingdom.'*  Everything  she  could  reach 
was  used  to  nourish  and  enlighten  that  desire,  but 
she  none  the  less  believed  in  being  a  good  girl 
and  a  normal  woman. 

She  testified  at  Eouen,  in  answer  to  her  judges, 
"I  learnt  to  spin  and  sew,  and  in  spinning  and 
sewing,  I  fear  no  women  in  Rouen." 

3.  Preparation  and  Understanding 

It  is  said  that  she  eagerly  listened  to  the  vari- 
ous wayfaring  men,  stragglers  and  traveling  mer- 
chants who  came  through  her  village,  and  she  was 


EARLY  INTERESTS 45 

incessantly  endeavoring  to  learn  about  the  armies, 
the  wars  and  the  enemies  of  France. 

Her  parents  were  anxious  for  her  to  marry  and 
they  insisted  on  pressing  the  suit  of  a  favorable 
lover,  but  Jeanne  had  sworn  a  vow  of  chastity 
and  she  believed  there  was  a  greater  mission  in 
store  for  her  than  marriage.  The  youth  even 
brought  suit  against  her  in  the  courts,  doubtless 
with  the  connivance  of  her  parents,  to  compel  her 
to  marry  him,  but  she  appeared  in  person  before 
the  magistrate  to  plead  her  own  cause,  and  she 
won  the  case.  This  was  in  1428  when  her  family 
had  been  driven  out  of  Domremy  by  the  English 
army  and  had  taken  refuge  in  Neuf chateau,  where 
she  had  to  mingle  with  the  rough  soldiers  and  en- 
dure many  distressing  trials  of  faith  and  endur- 
ance. 

The  written  testimony  of  thirty-four  persons 
who  knew  her  childhood  intimately  was  taken  in 
the  year  1439,  so  that  in  all  things  relating  to  the, 
common  affairs  of  her  life,  the  evidence  is  prac- 
tically unimpeachable.  These  commonplace  inter- 
ests, giving  us  a  living  woman  and  her  priceless 
inspiration  for  humanity,  are  what  we  need  most 
to  know  of  her,  as  a  meaning  and  example  for 
faith  as  being  the  greatest  power  for  right  life. 
It  matters  little  how  much  we  accept  or  reject  of 
her  voices  and  visions,  or  the  superstitions  and 
miracles  of  her  times,  provided  we  cherish  the 
inexhaustible  riches  of  her  loyalty  and  love  for 
man  and  God. 


46 JOAN  OF  ARC 

4.  Records  Seventy  Years  Before  the  Discovery 
of  America 

Nicolas  Bailey  examined  fifteen  witnesses  in 
Domremy  for  the  English  judges  in  1431,  and, 
when  twenty-eight  witnesses  were  examined  in 
1456,  he  said  that  their  testimony  as  to  Joan  and 
her  family  was  the  same  as  those  he  had  exam- 
ined twenty-five  years  before.  The  confusions  of 
records,  that  make  it  impossible  to  write  a  con- 
sistent and  consecutive  history  of  her  sayings  and 
deeds,  in  no  way  invalidate  an  unmistakable  ideal 
to  be  seen  in  the  harmony  of  her  mind  and  in  the 
principles  for  which  she  sacrificed  her  life. 

Many  theories  have  been  offered  to  account  for 
Joan  of  Arc,  but  she  can  hardly  be  thought  of  as 
merely  a  religious  puppet  managed  as  the  tool  of 
ambitious  men,  especially  when  we  consider  the 
accounts  of  her  long,  persistent  struggle  through 
almost  insurmountable  discouragements  and  de- 
feats to  get  a  chance  to  lead  her  people  against 
their  enemy.  When  she  did  so,  there  are  numer- 
ous indisputable  instances  where  there  was  no  re- 
liance but  upon  her  own  strategy,  which  was  exe- 
cuted by  her  in  the  best  of  military  art  for  vic- 
tory. 

It  was  said  of  her  that  "whatever  confronted 
her,  whatever  problem  she  encountered,  whatever 
manners  became  her  in  novel  situations,  she  un- 
derstood in  a  moment.  She  solved  the  problems, 
she  assumed  the  manners,  she  met  the  rain  of  ar- 


EARLY  INTERESTS £T 

rows  and  bullets,  she  faced  doctors  and  clerks, 
she  animated  her  soldiers  as  did  Napoleon  four 
centuries  later,  she  spoke  and  acted  like  a  captain, 
like  a  clerk,  or  like  an  experienced  woman  of  the 
world,  as  the  need  of  the  hour  required,"  and  all 
this  when  she  was  not  yet  eighteen  years  of  age. 

5.  The  Testimony  of  Nearest  Friends 

Michelet  says,  "It  was  by  no  means  rare  to  see 
women  take  up  arms.  They  often  fought  in  sieges : 
witness  the  eighty  women  wounded  at  Amiens. 
In  La  Pucelle's  day,  and  in  the  self-same  year  as 
she,  the  Bohemian  women  fought  like  men  in  the 
wars  of  the  Hussites.  The  originality  of  La  Pu- 
celle,  the  secret  of  her  success,  was  not  her  cour- 
age or  her  visions,  but  her  good  sense.  Amidst 
all  her  enthusiasm  the  girl  of  the  people  clearly 
saw  the  question,  and  knew  how  to  resolve  it." 

Michelet  believes  she  was  one  of  those  who  can 
be  described  only  as  a  genius,  and  yet,  so  won- 
derful as  to  seem  explainable  only  as  a  miracle. 
But  there  have  been  so  many  of  this  extraordi- 
nary genius  that  were  found  to  be  so  merely  in 
the  trivial  and  worthless,  that  they  could  be  clas- 
sified only  as  freaks  of  nature  arising  from  the 
unknowable  conditions  of  mind. 

Michelet  records  the  testimony  of  Haumette, 
Jeanne's  heart-to-heart  childhood  friend,  who 
says,  '  *  She  was  a  good  girl,  so  simple  and  gentle. 
She  spun  and  attended  in  the  house,  no  different 


4g JOAN  OF  ARC 

from  other  girls."  He  notes  the  testimony  of 
Simonin  Mousnier,  a  laborer,  who  said,  "  All  loved 
her  because  she  nursed  the  sick  and  was  charitable 
to  the  poor.  I  was  a  child  and  when  I  was  sick 
she  nursed  me."  Others  in  the  village  of  Dom- 
remy  are  on  record  as  saying  that  she  was  the 
best  girl  that  they  ever  knew,  that  "she  grew  up 
strong  and  beautiful  and  true." 

Jean  Waterin,  one  of  her  nearest  friends,  a 
youth  of  good  repute,  near  her  own  age,  tells  of 
many  instances  showing  her  sincere  piety,  and  he 
testified  before  the  tribunal  of  restoration  that 
he  several  times  heard  her  say  that  she  was  the 
maid  who  had  been  chosen  to  deliver  France  and 
crown  the  rightful  king.  Many  of  her  playmates 
describe  how  happy-hearted,  patient,  tender  and 
devoted  she  was  to  all  who  needed  her  cheer  and 
help.  Isabellette,  her  neighbor's  daughter,  says 
that  no  one  ever  saw  Jeanne  loitering  along  the 
road  or  idling  away  any  of  her  time.  Mengette 
was  with  her  in  their  first  communion  at  the  par- 
ish church  and  she  chided  Jeanne  with  being  too 
deeply  in  earnest,  that  she  must  not  take  the  serv- 
ice so  much  to  heart.  The  bell-ringer  of  the 
church  tells  how  Jeanne  scolded  him  when  he  for- 
got to  ring  for  the  service.  ' l  She  said  I  had  done 
wrong.  Then  she  promised  me  some  wool  of  her 
flock  if  I  would  be  more  thoughtful. ' ' 

These  beautiful  little  revelations  of  child  char- 
acter come  to  us  through  the  centuries  back  from 
an  age  long  before  the  discovery  of  America. 


EARLY  INTERESTS 49 

And  yet,  then  as  now,  it  shows  how  each  wonder- 
working mind  has  been  one  of  the  utmost  sim- 
plicity, self-forgetfulness,  and  singleness  of  pur- 
pose. 

One  of  her  companions,  testifying  as  to  her 
character,  said,  "She  never  swore  by  any  of  the 
saints,  and  to  affirm  strongly  she  was  satisfied  to 
say,  *  without  fail.7  She  was  no  dancer,  and  some- 
times when  the  others  were  singing  and  dancing 
she  went  to  prayer." 

6.  Superstitions  'Alien  to  Faith 

There  was  great  wrong  hovering  around  the 
village  of  Domremy.  The  little  maid  whose  mind 
was  sensitive,  and  yet  strong  enough  to  appreci- 
ate the  disorder,  knew  that  what  she  saw  was  in- 
harmonious with  the  supreme  idea  she  had  of  God 
as  the  maker  of  heaven  and  earth.  Domremy  was 
in  the  marshes  of  Lorraine  near  the  Burgundian 
border,  and  in  constant  fear  of  her  hated  neigh- 
bors. Every  few  days  the  village  boys  came  back 
from  the  fields  from  bloody  frays  with  the  ag- 
gressive youths  who  crossed  the  border  to  punish 
the  Armagnacs. 

"Many  a  time,"  she  says,  "I  saw  the  children 
of  Domremy  come  back  wounded  and  bleeding 
from  fighting  with  the  ones  who  had  come  to  them 
out  of  the  village  of  Maxey." 

She  knew  that  the  system  that  made  little  chil- 
dren fight  was  not  of  God.  All  that  was  needed 
was  a  leader  for  God  and  He  would  give  the  vie- 


50 JOAN  OF  ARC 

toiy  of  peace  that  can  come  only  in  war  against 
the  makers  of  war. 

Jeanne  was  not  superstitious.  Her  faith  was 
clear.  That  truth  comes  often  to  light  through- 
out the  years,  every  day  of  which  was  thoroughly 
searched  through  by  her  foes  for  the  least  morsel 
against  her,  and  then  as  strenuously  searched 
through  a  few  years  later  by  her  friends  for  in- 
disputable evidence  that  she  was  true.  All  of  this 
was  recorded  in  sworn  documents,  most  of  which 
are  still  to  be  seen  in  the  archives  of  Paris. 

Much  was  made  of  the  Fairy  Tree  around  which 
the  children  of  Domremy  played,  but  she  always 
said  of  the  superstitious  claims,  "Whether  it  be 
true  or  not  I  do  not  know."  And  the  evidence 
is  overwhelming  that  she  did  not  care  to  know,  for 
the  superstition  of  the  Fairy  Tree  concerned  her 
faith  and  her  mission  no  more  than  the  discus- 
sions of  the  learned  doctors. 

Her  playmates  all  testified  in  their  various 
views  under  sworn  statements  how  she  joined 
with  them  in  their  holiday  plays  about  the  Fairy 
Tree,  but  whenever  she  could  she  slipped  away 
to  the  little  near-by  church  and  laid  her  garland 
on  the  altar  of  Our  Lady  of  Domremy. 

Jean  Waterin  told  how  the  children  often 
laughed  at  her  for  so  much  devotion  to  prayer. 
"Often  when  we  were  all  at  play,"  he  said, 
"Jeanne  would  go  away  to  be  alone  with  God." 
All  loved  her  so  that  they  tried  to  be  good  to  her 
and  to  her  heart's  desire. 


EARLY  INTERESTS 51 

Hauviette  was  three  years  younger  but  she  re- 
garded it  as  a  great  joy  when  her  mother  allowed 
her  to  go  over  and  sleep  with  Jeannette.  Mengette, 
thirty  years  after,  found  the  greatest  happiness 
of  her  life  in  being  able  to  tell  how  she  had  gone 
into  the  religious  services  with  Jeanne  in  the  feel- 
ing that  to  be  with  her  was  to  be  near  God.  These 
sworn  testimonies  from  so  many  earnest  persons 
bear  within  themselves  the  evidence  of  being  true, 
and  from  the  unceasing  measure  of  such  a  relig- 
ious soul  must  be  considered  every  subsequent 
phase  of  her  wonderful  life.  Whatever  is  brought 
forth  contradictory  to  that  loyal  faith  may  well 
be  disregarded  as  foreign  to  the  truth. 

7.  The  Soul  of  Character  and  Life 

Jeanne  said, ' '  Kings  are  but  lieutenants  of  their 
Lord  the  King  of  Heaven,"  and  she  bravely  as- 
serted without  fear  or  favor  that  their  crowns 
"no  goldsmith  on  earth  could  fashion." 

Euskin  says,  "The  nobleness  of  life  depends 
upon  its  consistency,  clearness  of  purpose,  quiet 
and  ceaseless  energy."  Lord  Bacon  completes 
the  great  idea  when  he  says,  * '  Man  when  he  rest- 
eth  and  assureth  himself,  upon  divine  Protection, 
and  Favour,  gathereth  a  Force  and  Faith,  which 
Human  Nature,  in  itself,  could  not  obtain." 

Such  has  been  true  of  every  noble  character  in 
history,  and  it  was  brightly  exemplified  in  the  life 
of  Joan  of  Arc.  No  one  has  ever  accused  her  of 


52 JOAN  OF  ARC 

living  an  intentional  course  of  falsehood  and  no 
one  has  ever  doubted  her  sincerity  concerning  the 
belief  in  her  voices,  whatever  they  were,  or  con- 
cerning her  mission,  however  it  shaped  her  won- 
derful way. 

8.  Guidance  from  the  Depths  of  Mind 

Much  controversy  has  taken  place  over  explana- 
tions of  the  "voices"  which  Joan  heard.  As  there 
were  legions  of  false  Christs  claiming  to  be  Mes- 
siahs, so  there  were  legions  of  false  " Maids" 
claiming  to  be  directed  by  "voices." 

Her  own  recorded  words  about  the  voices,  as 
written  down  at  the  great  trial,  are  as  follows: 
"When  I  was  thirteen  years  old  (or  about  thir- 
teen) I  had  a  voice  from  God,  to  help  me  in  my 
conduct.  And  the  first  time  I  was  in  great  fear. 
It  came,  that  Voice,  about  midday,  in  summer 
time,  in  my  father's  garden.  I  had  not  (this  evi- 
dently in  answer  to  a  question)  fasted  on  the  pre- 
vious day.  I  heard  the  Voice  from  the  right  side 
toward  the  church,  and  I  rarely  hear  it  without 
seeing  a  light.  The  light  is  on  the  side  from 
which  the  Voice  comes." 

It  is  not  an  uncommon  experience  for  persons 
of  sensitive  and  thoughtful  temperaments  to  have 
startling  words  "pop  up,"  as  it  were,  and,  if  cul- 
tivated by  one  with  such  depths  of  power  as  Joan 
of  Arc,  there  might  thus  be  visions  and  voices 
such  as  came  to  her.  The  sound  of  vesper  bells 


53 


often  brought  these  voices  to  her,  and  it  is  not 
uncommon  for  many  to  fancy  voices  in  the  varied 
sounds  of  bells.  But  this  in  no  wise  lessens  the 
possibility  of  some  divine  possession  in  these  su- 
persensitive  moments  and  there  is  no  kind  of  ex- 
planation that  alters  the  personal  power  in  her 
faith  or  its'  practical  worth  in  character  and 
career. 

9.  The  Task  as  Faith  or  Will 

Jeanne  very  reluctantly  yielded  to  her  voices 
telling  her  to  go  to  the  help  of  France.  She  says 
that  she  would  rather  have  been  torn  to  pieces  by 
horses  than  to  have  gone  on  a  mission  so  foreign 
to  her  nature,  if  it  had  not  been  the  voice  of  angels 
from  God.  The  almost  insurmountable  difficulty 
may  be  understood  when  we  know  how  conscious 
she  was  of  her  weakness,  that  she  had  no  friends 
to  help  her,  that  her  interests  would  be  mistaken, 
that  it  would  be  almost  impossible  for  a  peasant 
girl,  of  only  sixteen  years  of  age,  to  see  or  con- 
vince a  king.  Besides,  it  was  four  hundred  and 
fifty  miles  to  the  Dauphin's  Chateau  on  the  Loire, 
and  the  way  was  through  an  enemy's  country,  in- 
fested by  robbers  and  murderers.  But  the  voice 
said  she  was  born  to  do  that  work.  Therefore, 
there  was  a  way,  and  in  the  cause  of  her  Lord, 
she  must  do  it.  Here  the  contrast  and  respective 
service  of  faith  and  will  may  be  seen  and  esti- 
mated. She  had  no  will  to  meet  the  unknown  dan- 
gers and  difficulties  that  intelligence  could  see  be- 


54 JOAN  OF  ARC 

setting  the  almost  impossible  way.  The  differ- 
ence is  in  the  fact  that  faith  is  the  way  of  life, 
and  will  is  the  way  of  individual  judgment.  In- 
telligence is  insufficient  to  be  wise  to  a  distant 
purpose,  and  it  is  never  reached  as  originally 
willed,  or  found  to  be  worth  the  value  that  first 
inspired  the  way,  but  intelligence  is  always  suffi- 
cient for  the  process  of  perseverance,  in  which  life 
is  a  development  of  the  infinite  moral  system. 

Her  task  is  not  to  be  explained  as  being  thought 
out  from  any  foresight  of  intelligence,  and  there- 
fore could  not  have  been  planned  out  as  any 
achievement  or  triumph  of  will.  The  mystery  is 
not  so  much  in  her  as  in  others.  Gabriel  Hano- 
taux,  in  his  studious  analysis  of  her  life,  presents 
four  unexplained  mysteries  as  the  practical  moral 
interest  in  her  career.  The  first  relates  to  the 
formation  in  her  mind  of  the  call  to  such  unwaver- 
ing perseverance ;  the  second  is  in  her  definite  idea 
to  save  Orleans  and  crown  the  king  at  Bheims; 
the  third,  as  in  the  case  of  Christ,  the  complete 
abandonment  of  her  by  all  her  chosen  friends; 
and  fourth,  her  unanimous  condemnation,  from 
utterly  innocent  evidence,  by  the  supposedly  most 
learned  and  judicially  fair-minded  conclave  of  re- 
sponsible men  in  the  world. 


CHAPTER  IV 

THE  FIRST  BELIEVERS  AND  THEIR 
TASK 

1.  Beginning  to  Remove  the  Mountains 

IT  was  probably  in  May,  1428,  that  she  no  longer 
doubted  being  called  of  God  to  right  the  wrongs 
of  France.  She  constantly  said  to  her  voices,  '  *  I 
am  a  poor  girl;  I  do  not  know  how  to  ride  or 
fight."  Even  as  Moses  of  enslaved  Israel,  it 
seemed  impossible  for  one  so  weak  to  be  chosen 
for  so  great  a  task.  But  perhaps  faith  is  not 
weak!  The  voices  ever  replied,  "It  is  God  Who 
commands  it."  History  had  begun  to  repeat  it- 
self in  the  power  of  the  words,  * l  God  wills  it. ' '  In 
the  meaning  of  those  words  may  yet  be  found  the 
power  of  peace  for  all  the  world.  The  universe 
has  conceived  the  form  of  man  out  of  its  forces, 
and,  in  the  process  of  evolution,  brought  forth  his 
social  intelligence  in  the  rational  order  of  its  in- 
finite system. 

She  had  always  been  obedient  in  everything  to 
her  parents,  but  now  there  was  a  higher  call. 
They  could  prevent  her  at  the  very  beginning  if 
they  knew,  and  her  father  had  already  been  en- 
raged, even  in  the  suggestion  of  a  dream,  so  that 

55 


56 JOAN  OF  ARC 

he  would  rather  drown  her  than,  for  her  to  go 
away  with  soldiers. 

She  must  get  away  from  the  control  of  her  par- 
ents, and  it  was  a  grievous  thing,  as  she  after- 
ward confessed.  She  found  a  chance.  There  was 
a  cousin  of  her  mother,  by  marriage,  who  lived  at 
Burey  near  Vaucouleurs.  He  needed  some  one  to 
help  in  his  household  and  Jeanne  was  allowed  to 
go  for  that  work.  His  name  was  Durand  Lassois, 
and  on  account  of  his  age  she  called  him  uncle. 

Lassois  was  a  witness  who  gave  his  testimony 
clearly,  as  the  records  show,  and  there  is  no  rea- 
son to  doubt  any  part  of  his  story. 

She  began  her  work  upon  him  by  asking,  "Don't 
you  know  the  saying  that  France  is  to  be  made 
desolate  by  a  woman  and  afterward  to  be  restored 
by  a  maid?" 

He  had  heard  the  prophecy,  because  it  was  a 
common  saying  throughout  all  that  country.  She 
told  him  of  the  Voices  that  had  given  her  the  mis- 
sion to  free  France  and  crown  the  Dauphin  at 
Rheims.  Lassois  was  impressed  enough  that  he 
brought  a  young  man  named  Geoffrey  du  Fay  into 
council,  and  it  was  decided  that  she  should  visit 
Baudricourt,  who  was  the  military  commander 
over  that  district. 

We  are  indebted  for  an  account  of  the  visit  to 
a  man  named  Poulengy,  who  was  present  when 
Jeanne  came  into  the  presence  of  the  military 
commander.  She  told  Baudricourt  that  she  had 
come  with  a  message  from  the  Lord  and  it  must 


FIRST  BELIEVERS— THEIR  TASK   57 

be  sent  to  the  Dauphin.  It  was  then  the  week  of 
the  Ascension  (May,  1428)  and  the  message  to  the 
Crown  Prince  was,  "Let  him  guard  himself  well, 
and  not  offer  battle  to  his  foes,  for  the  Lord  will 
give  him  succor  by  mid-Lent. ' '  This  would  be  by 
March  the  next  year.  He  was  to  be  told  that  by 
God's  will  she  herself  would  lead  the  Dauphin  to 
be  crowned  at  Rheims  as  Charles  VII,  King  of 
France.  Furthermore,  she  said  it  must  be  under- 
stood that  the  kingdom  belonged  to  God,  not  to 
the  Dauphin,  but  that  God  desired  the  Dauphin 
to  hold  the  realm  under  Him. 

Lassois,  or,  as  he  is  often  called,  Laxart,  was  a 
common  laborer,  and  Joan  in  the  coarse  red  cloth- 
ing of  the  peasantry  could  hardly  impress  a  hard, 
rough  soldier  like  Baudricourt,  especially  with 
such  a  preposterous  proposition  as  she  brought. 
He  treated  it  as  a  joke.  Poulengy,  who  was  pres- 
ent at  the  interview,  said  in  his  sworn  testimony, 
that  Baudricourt,  being  licentious  and  vulgar, 
thought  to  use  her  in  an  immoral  way,  but  the 
womanly  dignity  in  her  demeanor  made  it  impos- 
sible for  him  so  much  as  to  suggest  it. 

The  commander's  answer  was  to  advise  Las- 
sois that  he  box  the  girl's  ears  and  send  her  home 
to  her  father.  But  the  strange  peasant  girl  would 
not  be  turned  aside  and  she  boldly  insisted.  Then 
Baudricourt  suddenly  drew  his  sword,  loudly  and 
crossly  saying,  "What  would  your  voices  say  to 
this ! ' '  as  he  flourished  it  before  her.  As  suddenly 
she  snatched  a  dagger  from  the  belt  of  an  attend- 


58  JOAN  OF  ARC 

ant,  and  brought  it  down  upon  his  sword.  The 
knife  went  through  his  blade  as  through  paper  as 
she  cried,  "My  voices  would  say  this!" 

Baudricourt  shrank  back  as  from  a  miracle,  and 
said,  "I'll  see  what  I  can  do  I" 

2.  The  Mountains  Begm  to  Move 

Joan  had  made  a  prophecy  from  the  voices  that 
was  accordingly  on  the  way  to  be  fulfilled  by 
March.  This,  promise  was  to  supply  help  to  the 
King  in  a  national  work  of  almost  impossible 
proportions,  and  she  had  so  far  failed  to  get  even 
a  listener  at  home.  Meanwhile  the  months 
dragged  by  to  January,  within  three  months  of 
the  appointed  time. 

During  this  time  the  most  violent  efforts  were 
being  put  forth  by  various  commanders  to  retrieve 
some  of  the  fortunes  of  France,  but  with  unceas- 
ing disaster  and  defeat.  But  not  an  hour  had  been 
lost  by  Jeanne.  She  was  incessantly  pleading  with 
any  and  all  who  might  have  influence  to  help  her 
somehow  to  reach  the  princely  heir  to  the  throne 
and  explain  to  him  her  mission. 

"It  is  absolutely  necessary,"  she  incessantly 
exclaimed,  "that  I  should  go  thither,  for  so  will 
my  Lord.  It  is  on  the  part  of  the  King  of  Heaven 
that  this  mission  is  confided  to  me;  and,  were  it 
necessary  that  I  repair  thither  on  my  knees,  I 
would  go." 

At  last,  public  opinion  in  the  district  of  Vau- 


FIRST  BELIEVERS— THEIR  TASK   53 

couleurs  began  to  become  zealous  in  her  favor. 
Her  incessant  conversation  was  like  the  preach- 
ing of  a  new  crusade.  It  became  infection.  The 
people  began  to  feel  that  such  devout  zeal  could 
not  be  untrue. 

Her  bold  and  confident  pleadings  among  these 
lowly  commoners  for  a  way,  and  her  constantly 
reiterated  promises  as  a  prophet  of  God,  had  no 
prototype  in  history  less  than  that  of  Peter  the 
Hermit,  when  he  went  up  and  down  through  Eu- 
rope crying,  "God  wills  it,"  that  the  Savior's 
tomb  should  be  delivered  from  the  Infidel.  But 
his  was  the  spectacular  zeal  of  a  long  experienced 
master  of  crowds  and  his  cause  was,  in  a  large 
measure,  the  pride  of  one  religion  against  an- 
other. The  hosts  of  Europe  were  swept  together 
by  a  great  storm  of  feeling  and  they  gave  their 
lives  only  to  failure  and  death.  Hers  was  the 
humble  zeal  of  a  young  girl  knowing  only  the 
divine  meaning  in  the  rights  of  her  people. 

3.  The  Mountains  Begin  to  Crumble 

Lord  de  Baudricourt,  military  governor  of  the 
province,  could  no  longer  withstand  the  public  de- 
mand to  help  her.  But  not  being  sure  whether 
she  was  insane  or  that  it  was  of  the  devil,  he  de- 
cided first  on  a  test.  Taking  with  him  the  priestly 
enrobed  curate  of  Vaucouleurs,  he  appeared  sud- 
denly at  her  door,  so  it  is  told  in  the  depositions 
of  Catherine,  wife  of  Henry,  the  blacksmith,  where 


60 


she  lived.  In  order  to  drive  out  any  devils  that 
might  be  in  her,  the  priest  suddenly  spread  out 
before  her  the  broad-embroidered  stole,  from 
around  his  neck,  saying,  "If  you  come  in  behalf 
of  the  enemy  of  men,  begone  from  our  presence ; 
but  if  it  is  upon  the  part  of  God,  then  remain. ' ' 

On  seeing  the  use  being  made  of  the  priestly 
ornament,  Jeanne  fell  humbly  upon  her  knees,  and 
made  fervent  acknowledgment  of  her  devotion  to 
the  cause  of  God.  The  priest  asked  her  many 
questions  to  all  of  which  she  promptly  replied, 
so  that  the  curate  and  the  governor  agreed  that 
it  might  be  important  enough  for  them  to  write  a 
letter  to  the  uncrowned  King. 

Jean  de  Metz,  a  lawless  and  reckless  freebooter 
of  the  Armagnacs,  though  he  nevertheless  had 
much  influence  in  high  court  circles,  heard  of  the 
strange  girl  and  he  came  through  curiosity,  about 
this  time,  to  the  house  where  she  was  staying,  in- 
tending to  make  sport  of  her.  But,  when  he  be- 
gan, with  coarse  familiarity,  "My  dear,  what  are 
you  doing  here?"  she  told  him  clearly  and  so  defi- 
nitely that  he  was  astonished.  He  then  looked  at 
this  Maid,  clothed  in  the  deep  red  of  humble  peas- 
ants, with  more  than  curious  interest.  He  de- 
clares, in  his  sworn  statement,  that  he  saw  in  her 
appearance  something  impressive  far  above  any- 
thing ever  before  seen  in  any  peasant  girl.  He 
now  asked  her  seriously  to  tell  him  what  business 
had  brought  her  to  Vaucouleurs.  She  replied,  '  *  I 
am  come  to  request  of  Robert  de  Baudricourt  that 


FIRST  BELIEVERS— THEIR  TASK   61 

he  will  cause  me  to  be  conducted  to  the  King, 
either  by  himself  or  some  other  person;  but  he 
does  not  concern  himself  either  about  me  or  what 
I  say.  And  yet  it  is  absolutely  necessary  that  I 
see  him  before  the  middle  of  Lent,  even  if  I  am 
compelled  to  wear  my  legs  to  the  very  knees  in 
the  journey.  For  no  living  creature,  nor  kings, 
nor  dukes,  nor  the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Scot- 
land, nor  any  others,  can  retake  the  kingdom  of 
France,  since  there  is  no  succor  for  him  save 
through  myself ;  though  I  had  much  better  like  to 
remain  at  home  spinning  by  the  side  of  my  poor 
mother ;  for  such  is  not  a  work  fitted  for  me,  yet, 
I  must  go  do  it,  for  such  is  the  will  of  the  Lord." 

"Who  is  this  Lord!"  inquired  the  visitor,  and 
she  replied,  "It  is  God." 

In  responsive  enthusiasm,  he  knelt  before  her 
kissing  her  hand  and  swore  on  his  honor  that  if 
God  was  their  leader  Jean  de  Metz  would  be  her 
knight  and  take  her  to  the  King. 

"When  do  you  wish  to  start?"  he  asked. 

"Rather  now  than  to-morrow,"  was  the  reply, 
"rather  to-morrow  than  any  day  after." 

Surely,  it  may  be  well  said  that  never  had  any 
knight  a  nobler  lady. 

4.  The  Preparatory  Interests  of  the  Wonderful 
Journey 

One  thing  testifies  unceasingly  to  the  saneness 
of  mind  with  which  Joan  approached  every  task. 


62 JOAN  OF  ARC        

She  never  expected  God  to  do  anything  for  her 
that  she  could  do  for  herself.  ' '  Men  do  the  work, ' ' 
she  said,  * '  and  only  then  is  it  so  that  God  can  give 
the  results.'* 

Schiller  in  his  "Maid  of  Orleans,"  referring  to 
her  many  authentic  prophecies,  has  Johanna  say 
to  one  who  was  in  despair  for  France: 

"No !  there  shall  yet  be  wonders, — a  white  Dove 
Is  on  the  wing,  and  shall,  with  eagle  boldness, 
Assail  these  vultures  that  lay  waste  the  land." 

Jean  de  Metz  asked  her  if  she  should  go  in  the 
red  clothes  she  then  wore.  Women's  skirts  were 
hardly  possible  for  so  long  and  hard  a  journey, 
where  peril  and  rough  roads  required  freedom  of 
action.  She  said  that  she  was  willing  to  wear 
men's  clothes.  Her  new-found  believer  hastened 
to  have  made  for  her  a  soldier 's  uniform,  the  peas- 
ants bought  her  a  horse,  and  she  was  thus  pre- 
pared for  the  fateful  journey.  This  knight,  thus 
wholly  transformed  in  his  attitude  toward  life, 
was  now  in  full  sympathy  with  the  long  suffering 
peasantry,  who  were  yearning  for  any  gleam  of 
hope  in  the  right  to  live,  and  so  together  a  way 
was  made,  regardless  of  their  humble  impoverish- 
ment, for  her  to  begin  her  historical  mission. 

It  is  a  marvelous  freak  of  men's  minds  that 
there  should  have  been  such  extended  controversy 
concerning  her  use  of  men's  clothes,  rather  than 
women's,  while  she  had  to  be  with  men.  It  took 


FIRST  BELIEFEES— THEIR  TASK   63 

up  a  large  part  of  her  trial  and  was  the  specific 
charge  of  relapse  into  heresy,  which  brought  about 
her  expulsion  from  the  church  to  the  stake.  The 
town  folks  of  Vaucouleurs  were  the  ones  who  first 
believed  in  her,  whose  enthusiastic  support  made 
Baudricourt  act,  and  they  were  the  ones  who  pre- 
pared for  her  a  soldier's  uniform  that  she  might 
properly  ride  the  horse  they  gave  her,  on  the  way 
with  the  little  band  of  sworn  knights  to  see  the 
Dauphin. 

5.  On  the  Long,  Perilous  Way 

This  wonderful  girl  was  practical  beyond  all 
expectations  and  beyond  any  mystic  visions  of 
the  operations  of  special  Providence.  Her  peas- 
ant friends  and  the  sanction  of  divine  will  were 
not  the  means  through  which  to  get  results  in  tem- 
poral affairs.  She  must  use  temporal  means  for 
temporal  success. 

She  wanted  the  support  of  responsible  men  and 
Baudricourt  was  persuaded  not  only  to  write  fa- 
vorably to  the  King,  but  he  sent  Poulengy  as  his 
representative.  Meanwhile,  persons  of  high  rank, 
in  the  hopelessness  of  the  times,  were  now  begin- 
ning to  take  notice  of  her.  Charles,  Duke  of  Lor- 
raine, who  was  ill  with  an  unknown  and  appar- 
ently incurable  disease,  desired  to  use  her  sup- 
posed divine  power  to  get  back  his  health.  He 
wanted  the  service  of  La  Pucelle,  the  Maid,  as 
she  was  now  becoming  popularly  known.  She  de- 


64 JOAN  OF  ARC 

cided  to  visit  him.  This  was  probably  while  she 
was  waiting  for  her  soldier's  uniform  to  be  made 
and  for  the  equipment  necessary  for  the  journey 
of  several  hundred  miles.  Her  kinsman,  Lassois, 
took  her  to  see  this  important  friend.  The  Duke 
made  a  deep  inquiry  into  her  claims  but  most  of 
all  he  desired  her  prayers  that  he  might  become 
well.  She  told  him  prayers  were  useless  so  long 
as  he  mistreated  the  duchess,  his  wife,  who  was 
a  noble  and  virtuous  princess.  Likewise,  she  had 
a  chief  aim.  She  wanted  him  to  cause  his  son, 
Eene  of  Anjou,  to  conduct  her  mission  to  the 
King.  And  thus  of  her  own  efforts,  she  had  at 
last  enlisted  a  prince,  if  not  in  person,  at  least  in 
influence  and  interest,  to  lead  her  to  the  goal  of 
Voices. 

Jeanne's  parents  had  known  something  of  her 
efforts,  but  it  was  not  until  now  that  her  father 
realized  that  his  dream  of  her  was  coming  true, 
and  she  was  to  march  away  with  soldiers.  Her 
parents,  in  great  consternation,  set  out  in  haste 
for  Vaucouleurs  to  stop  their  daughter  from  such 
a  mad  enterprise.  But  it  was  too  late.  She  wrote 
a  letter  imploring  their  forgiveness,  but  she  was 
upon  the  Lord's  business  and  could  not  turn  back. 

The  expedition  was  indeed  a  hazardous  enter- 
prise and  attended  with  considerable  cost.  Four 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  was  a  long  journey,  es- 
pecially through  a  land  infested  with  lawless 
bands  of  guerilla  warriors,  roving  robbers,  Eng- 
lish freebooters,  and  Burgundian  brigands.  A 


FIRST  BELIEVERS— THEIR  TASK   65 

vast  assembly  from  around  Vaucouleurs  came  to 
see  her  little  conclave  of  seven  persons  start  on 
their  momentous  journey. 

When  the  feeble  little  force  set  forth  on  the  long, 
dangerous  way  to  the  King,  some  one  from  the 
crowd  called  out  to  Jeanne  in  warning,  how  dare 
she  face  suoh  peril,  and  she  replied,  "It  was  for 
that  I  was  born.'*  So  it  was  likewise  centuries 
before  that  a  Son  of  Divine  Faith  had  said  when 
brought  face  to  face  with  the  mailed  fist  of  hu- 
man will,  "To  this  hour  was  I  born."  Faith 
knows  the  way  and  the  work.  Only  those  born 
of  the  will  are  limited  to  self  and  therefore  blind 
to  the  vision  of  humanity. 

Again,  when  they  came  to  a  town,  where  she 
could  go  into  customary  religious  surroundings 
suitable  to  the  composure  she  needed,  her  escorts 
protested  against  delay,  but  she  said  to  them, 
"Fear  nothing.  God  clears  the  way  for  me.  I 
was  born  for  this. ' '  The  self  or  I  that  she  and  her 
Savior  knew  was  the  divine  faith  in  righteousness 
as  the  God  within  them.  To  several  childhood 
friends  from  Domremy,  who  had  expressed  pri- 
vately to  her  their  anxiety  for  her  safety,  she  cor- 
respondingly expressed  herself,  "I  do  not  fear 
armed  men.  I  have  God  for  my  Lord,  Who  will 
make  clear  for  me  the  road  even  unto  my  lord 
the  Dauphin." 

Baudricourt  had,  with  noteworthy  considera- 
tion, made  each  of  her  escort  take  oath  for  the 
safe  conduct  of  La  Pucelle,  and  it  is  recorded 


66 JOAN  OF  ARC 

l^^™"***"*"*"^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^™ ™^^) 

that  they  started  on  that  wonderful  way  of  faith, 
fully  convinced  of  a  great  mission,  on  the  first 
Sunday  in  Lent,  the  thirteenth  of  February,  1429. 
According  to  most  authorities  this  was  a  few  days 
after  she  was  seventeen  years  old. 

6.  The  Journey  and  the  Great  News 

The  sworn  statements  of  those  who  accompa- 
nied her,  one  of  whom  was  her  brother  Pierre, 
agree  that,  through  all  the  terrors  of  their  jour- 
ney, La  Pucelle  was  unafraid  and  the  noble  dig- 
nity of  her  demeanor  inspired  them  all  with  cour- 
age to  persevere.  Jean  de  Metz  says  he  felt  to- 
ward her  as  toward  one  sent  from  God.  Bertrand 
says  she  was  as  good  as  if  she  had  been  a  saint. 

After  a  hard,  perilous  journey  of  eleven  days, 
full  of  adventure  and  marvelous  escapes,  she  ar- 
rived at  Fierbois,  which  was  in  the  territory  pro- 
tected by  the  King  and  was  therefore  her  first  safe 
resting  place.  From  that  place  she  wrote  the 
King  a  letter,  telling  of  her  desperate  journey, 
that  she  was  acquainted  with  many  things  he 
needed  to  know,  and  that  she  should  know  whether 
she  should  enter  the  city  where  the  King  was. 

The  favorites  of  the  King  laughed  loud  in  de- 
rision because  they  did  not  want  any  one  there 
who  might  be  a  rival  for  his  affections,  especially 
not  a  peasant  girl  from  Domremy.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Eheims  was  a  learned  politician  and  he 
did  not  want  any  one  else  to  share  the  honor  of 
any  victory  in  the  name  of  God. 


FIRST  BELIEVERS— THEIR  TASK   67 

But  everybody  had  failed  in  France.  The  en- 
emy was  slowly  mastering  the  siege  of  Orleans 
and  then  even  the  little  that  was  left  of  France 
would  be  at  the  mercy  of  the  conquering  English. 
Creasy,  in  his  "Fifteen  Decisive  Battles  of  the 
World,"  says  that,  among  all  the  certainties  re- 
corded in  history  none  seemed  more  clearly  in- 
evitable than  that  France  was  soon  to  disappear 
as  one  of  the  nations  of  the  earth.  That  a  young 
peasant  girl  should  arrive  at  this  desperate  hour 
capable  of  producing  one  of  the  most  momentous 
changes  in  all  history,  seems  so  incredible  as  to  be 
explainable  only  by  miracle  and  Divine  Provi- 
dence. 

Here  was  a  young  girl,  attending  three  masses 
in  one  day  for  her  patron  saint  Catherine,  who 
had  come  with  seven  attendants,  through  an  in- 
credible journey  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  miles, 
across  the  enemy 's  country,  and  alighted  without 
mishap  at  the  door  of  the  pious  lady  in  Fierbois. 

"What  God  keeps  is  well  kept,"  went  with  su- 
perstitious awe  from  mouth  to  mouth.  It  seemed 
as  if  in  a  few  days  all  the  people  of  France  were 
talking  about  the  Maid  from  the  marshes  of  Lor- 
raine. The  weary  beleaguered  citizens  starving 
to  death  in  Orleans,  heard  of  her  and  began  talk- 
ing of  her  as  an  angel  sent  from  God  for  their 
deliverance.  They  sent  messengers  who  slipped 
out  through  the  besieging  camps  to  inquire  if  it 
were  true.  Even  the  English  soldiers  began  to 
ask  questions  and  wonder.  Some  became  fearful 


68 JOAN  OF  ARC 

and  said,  "What !  has  God  been  sent  against  us  I" 
"Nay,  rather  say  the  devil,"  replied  their  relig- 
ious counselors.  But  that  was  even  worse  and 
more  hopeless.  They  began  to  conjure  up  reasons 
now  why  the  Burgundian  army  would  not  help 
them  capture  Orleans.  Either  God  or  the  devil 
against  them  would  mean  disastrous  defeat.  Hope 
began  to  strew  La  Pucelle  's  way  with  flowers  and 
fear  began  to  grip  the  hearts  of  the  enemy  of 
France.  Already  nearly  every  prayer  in  perish- 
ing France  bore  to  heaven  the  name  of  La  Pucelle 
the  Angelic  One. 

A  sign  was  appearing  in  the  sky  of  men's 
minds.  The  question  began  to  arise  whether 
after  all  it  could  be  that  right  was  might,  and  was 
it  indeed  true  that  the  invader  fought  there  in  the 
right  with  God. 

7.  The  Test  of  the  Divinely  Appointed  Mind 

There  was  great  confusion  in  the  court  of  the 
King.  The  royal  council  was  divided  about  the 
girl  from  distant  Lorraine.  But  she  was  given 
protection  in  the  Castle  Coudrey  about  three  miles 
from  Chinon,  the  present  home  of  the  uncrowned 
King  of  France.  At  the  Castle  Coudrey,  she 
was  committed  to  the  care  of  a  lady  of  distin- 
guished piety,  wife  of  Bellier,  who  was  master  of 
the  royal  household.  Three  of  the  King's  coun- 
cilors were  sent  to  inquire  into  her  mission. 
Jean  de  Metz  was  on  guard  and  he  conducted 
them  to  the  interview.  She  was  reluctant  to  tell 


FIRST  BELIEVERS— THEIR  TASK   69 

any  one  but  the  King.  However  after  much  per- 
suasion she  told  them  that  she  was  sent  of  God 
to  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans  and  to  crown  the 
Dauphin  at  Kheims. 

The  councilors  reported  to  the  Dauphin  and 
an  appointment  was  made.  Jean  de  Metz  was 
her  body  guard  to  the  castle  of  the  King. 

Near  the  gate  a  horseman  rode  up  with  rude 
jest  and  vulgar  oath  asking  if  she  was  the  Maid 
from  Lorraine  of  whom  so  many  were  gossiping. 
Looking  at  him  sternly,  she  said,  "How  canst 
thou  deny  God,  when  thou  art  so  near  death!" 

Within  that  hour  his  horse  had  thrown  him 
into  the  castle  moat,  and  the  story  of  her  proph- 
ecy concerning  the  nearness  of  death,  added  to 
the  conviction  that  a  prophetess  had  come,  but 
many  dared  not  affirm  surely  that  her  inspiration 
and  power  were  not  from  hell.  The  curse  of  the 
times  then  as  now  was  not  the  question  whether 
her  cause  was  right  or  wrong  but  from  what 
party  did  she  come,  and  for  whose  pay  was  she 
taking  all  this  trouble.  As  usual,  reason  decided 
for  selfishness,  and  she  was  right  for  those  who 
profited  as  long  as  they  profited,  and  wrong  for 
those  whose  will  she  opposed. 

The  court  was  called  together,  as  was  finally 
decided  upon,  in  the  castle  hall  to  receive  her. 
Three  hundred  knights,  nobles  and  gentlemen 
were  assembled  to  see  her.  Fifty  great  torches 
illuminated  the  aisles.  This  day,  March  8,  1429, 
was  a  historical  crisis  for  France. 


70 JOAN  OF  ARC 

The  Dauphin  of  France  was  dressed  in  civil- 
ian's clothes,  it  is  said  on  purpose  to  deceive 
her,  while  others  were  robed  in  kingly  garments. 
But  she  went  straight  to  the  King  and  knelt  at 
his  feet. 

"  Jeanne,*'  he  said,  pointing  to  one  of  the  richly 
robed  courtiers,  " there  is  the  King." 

"Nay,"  she  replied,  "thou  art  the  king  and 
none  other.  God  give  you  good  life,  my  gentle 
lord." 

Many  thought  there  was  a  miracle  in  that 
recognition,  but  doubtless  his  kind  and  gentle 
features,  from  repeated  descriptions,  were  al- 
ready familiar  to  her.  She  was  entirely  too 
practical  and  keen  in  observation  not  to  know  of 
him,  even  as  to  his  instability  and  weakness.  If 
he  had  been  a  regal  man  there  would  have  been 
no  need  for  her  to  have  been  called  to  the  great- 
est of  man's  tasks  from  the  sweet  green  fields  of 
Domremy.  He  would  himself  have  delivered 
France. 

4 'By  what  name  do  you  call  yourself?"  asked 
the  King. 

"I  am  Jeanne  the  Maid,"  she  replied. 

"What  is  it  that  you  want  of  me?"  he  further 
asked. 

"The  King  of  Heaven  sends  me  to  save  you 
and  your  kingdom  and  to  conduct  you  to  Eheims 
for  your  coronation." 

The  warriors  in  the  room  were  scornful  and 
the  courtiers  were  smiling  in  derision. 


"THOU  ART  THE  KING' 


FIRST  BELIEVERS— THEIR  TASK   71 

Rheims!  it  was  in  the  very  center  of  the  ene- 
mies' conquest.  The  road  to  Rheims  was  impas- 
sable because  of  their  fortified  cities,  castles  and 
armies. 

But  Charles,  the  Dauphin,  was  somehow  se- 
riously impressed.  He  led  her  away  from  the 
jesting  crowd  and  talked  long  and  earnestly  with 
her.  In  that  time  she  told  him,  so  he  said,  some- 
thing known  only  to  himself  and  God.  From 
many  sources,  especially  that  of  De  Boissy,  who 
was  the  King's  only  confidant,  there  is  a  common 
belief  that  he  had  prayed  bitterly  to  know  through 
some  sign  from  heaven  that  he  was  in  reality  the 
true  heir  to  the  throne,  and  she  had  given  him 
that  sign  by  telling  him  of  his  prayer,  and  con- 
vincing him  that  he  was  indeed  the  legitimate 
heir  to  the  throne  of  France.  It  was  bad  enough 
to  be  the  son  of  Isabeau,  who  was  not  only  vilely 
immoral  but  had  sold  the  kingdom  to  England. 
The  doubt  was  even  worse  that  he  might  not  be 
the  son  of  the  late  King  of  France. 

There  had  been  much  reason  for  doubt,  as  his 
enemies  had  been  declaring,  and  his  conscience 
over  this  doubt  had  paralyzed  his  efforts  in  many 
ways.  It  would  also  not  do  to  let  any  one  know 
that  he  ever  felt  such  doubts,  so,  in  the  fiercest 
hours  of  her  inquisition,  when  every  torture  of 
mind  and  body  was  brought  before  her,  to  frighten 
her  into  betraying  that  Something,  which  had  be- 
come known  as  the  "King's  Secret,"  she  held  her 
peace  an4  could  not  be  made  to  betray  it.  This 


72 JOAN  OF  ARC 

sublime  loyalty  to  a  faithless  King,  who  was  also 
a  disloyal  friend,  adds  high  proof  that  her  mar- 
tyr's death  in  a  moral  cause  was  an  immortal 
victory  over  all  the  wicked  ignorance  and  selfish- 
ness of  the  earth. 


8.  The  Credentials  of  a  King 

Through  all  the  malevolent  criticism  of  the  cen- 
turies, endeavoring  to  discredit  her  from  all 
points  of  view,  no  doubt  has  ever  obtained  a  legiti- 
mate place  in  any  reason  concerning  the  personal 
genuineness  of  her  faith. 

Her  great  moral  persuasion  was  unchangeable, 
that  she  could  do  what  she  did  do,  that  is,  to  save 
France  from  its  enemies,  to  raise  the  siege  of  Or- 
leans and  to  crown  Charles  VII  as  King  at 
Eheims.  She  never  claimed  to  be  anything  more 
than  a  weak  and  ignorant  girl  beyond  the  one 
great  task,  and  she  always  maintained  that  she 
had  no  knowledge  or  power  or  will  more  than  was 
given  her  through  the  Voices  which  she  called 
her  council.  She  was  fully  persuaded  and  she 
knew  in  whom  she  believed. 

Like  Paul  who  knew  nothing  but  Christ  and 
him  crucified,  so  La  Pucelle  knew  nothing  but  the 
pain  of  France  and  the  crowning  of  the  King, 
who  was  only  so,  by  being  the  servant,  as  she 
was,  of  the  King  of  Heaven. 

It  was  a  year  of  staggering  calamity.  The 
church  was  divided  into  struggling  factions,  the 


FIRST  BELIEVERS—THEIR  TASK   73 

Turks  were  overrunning  the  Christian  countries 
of  the  East,  and  there  were  prophets  of  calamity 
distracting  the  people  of  almost  every  community 
in  Europe. 

Charles  VII,  the  Dauphin,  for  whom  Jeanne 
had  labored  so  long  to  come  to  his  aid,  was  over- 
timid  and  over-conscientious,  and  the  counter- 
currents  of  interests  at  the  courts  made  intermin- 
able delays.  Meanwhile  the  King  had  a  long  pri- 
vate interview  with  her  in  which  she  outlined  her 
policy  and  caused  him  to  agree  to  three  requests. 

1.  He  must  hold  his  kingdom  as  a  trust  from 
God. 

2.  He  must  forgive  all  his  kindred  who  had 
antagonized  him  or  done  him  wrong. 

3.  He  must  humble  himself  so  as  to  receive 
into  his  favor  all  who  asked  for  it,  great  or  small. 
This  was  exactly  opposite  to  the  policy  advo- 
cated by  the  Dauphin's  chief  adviser,  La  Tre- 
mouille,  and  it  made  for  her  in  the  King's  court 
a  cruel  and  bitter  enemy. 

After  this  interview,  the  King  took  her  to  din- 
ner, and  then  they  went  for  a  walk  in  the  fields. 

If  she  was  to  lead  the  armies  of  France  she 
must  know  how  to  ride  like  a  warrior.  The  Duke 
of  AlenQon  brought  her  a  powerful  horse  and  a 
warrior's  equipment.  She  took  them  as  one  long 
accustomed  to  their  use.  Mounting  the  horse 
without  aid,  she  rode  before  the  King  with  such 
stately  grace,  that  Alengon  made  her  a  present 
of  the  horse  and  the  warrior's  arms. 


74 JOAN  OF  ARC 

9.  More  Mountains  to  be  Removed 

Such  were  the  distractions  in  the  court  over 
her  that  Charles  could  not  make  up  his  mind 
what  to  do.  Some  Franciscan  monks  were  sent 
to  investigate  every  detail  of  her  character  as 
known  among  her  neighbors  in  Lorraine.  The 
learned  men  of  the  church  and  the  university  were 
gathered  at  Poitiers  and  Charles  decided  to  have 
her  brought  before  them  for  decision  concerning 
her  qualifications  and  character  as  a  lawful  means 
to  use  for  France. 

Thus  her  plea  for  soldiers  with  which  to  save 
Orleans  was  answered  by  her  being  sent  for  ex- 
amination to  the  learned  doctors  of  the  Univer- 
sity of  Poitiers. 

When  she  found  that  she  was  to  be  sent  there 
to  prove  her  divine  mission,  she  said,  "In  God's 
name  much  ado  will  be  there,  I  know.  But  my 
Lord  will  help  me.  Now  let  us  go  on  in  God's 
strength." 

We  can  easily  see  why  the  theological  doctors 
worried  and  annoyed  her.  She  could  see  no  need 
for  learned  men  to  interpret  her  Voices  or  to  set 
any  stamp  of  approval  upon  anything  coming 
from  God.  She  understood  her  Voices  and  she 
knew  in  whom  she  believed.  Anything  more  than 
this  was  not  only  superfluous  but  absurd.  This  is 
freedom  of  conscience.  It  is  the  liberty  of  life. 
But  it  was  her  first  realization  that  there  was  es- 
tablished on  earth  certain  authority  and  powers 


FIRST  BELIEVERS— THEIR  TASK   75 

of  interpretation  necessary  to  authenticate  her 
communion  with  God,  wherever  that  faith 
might  appear  as  works. 

The  King  lodged  her  with  the  family  of  his 
advocate  in  Parliament  at  Poitiers,  and  for  three 
weeks  she  was  constantly  under  critical,  if  not 
hostile,  examination  by  the  most  learned  men  of 
the  times.  Her  inquisition  was  presided  over  by 
her  enemy  the  Archbishop  of  Eheims. 

For  hours  each  day  she  was  subjected  to  all 
manner  of  shrewd  questions  to  get  her  to  make  a 
foolish  remark  or  to  contradict  herself.  But  it 
could  not  be  done.  Each  reasoned  from  a  differ- 
ent beginning  for  a  different  vision  of  success. 
From  a  different  origin,  they  were  on  a  different 
way  to  a  different  land  of  promise  and  social  ex- 
istence. Such  minds  never  meet.  Such  persons 
never  know  each  other.  The  faith-mind  does  not 
live  in  the  same  world  with  the  will  mind.  They 
do  not  compose  the  same  kind  of  persons.  There 
is  no  mutual  means  for  the  adjustment  of  any  con- 
flict between  them  but  force  and  compulsion.  The 
minds  that  have  incidents  and  particulars  as  meas- 
ures and  ideals  for  religion  or  morality,  for  pa- 
triotism or  humanity,  are  either  despots  or  cow- 
ards, fanatics  or  compromisers,  militarists  or  paci- 
fists, masters  or  quitters,  and  they  are  a  different 
order  of  beings  for  a  different  order  of  society 
from  the  unconquerable  souls  whose  measure  and 
ideal  and  way  are  stayed  on  the  Eternal  Meaning 
known  to  us  as  God  and  his  social  universe. 


CHAPTER  V 

THE  PROMISED  SIGN  FROM  THE  KING  OF 
HEAVEN 

'1.  The  Doctors  of  the  Law 

THE  University  of  Poitiers  could  not  trap  her 
in  any  irreligous  thought  or  foolish  mission. 

"You  tell  us,"  said  William  Aymery,  one  of 
the  learned  Dominican  doctors  of  the  law,  in  the 
council  examining  her,  "that  God  has  great  pity 
upon  the  people  of  France  and  wishes  to  free 
them.  If  he  wishes  to  free  them,  there  is  no  need 
for  the  soldiers  you  ask  for."  But  her  Voices 
were  not  those  of  a  mystic.  She  had  a  practical 
view. 

"In  God's  name,"  replied  Joan,  "only  as  men 
fight  can  it  be  so  that  God  may  give  his  warriors 
victory. ' ' 

A  Carmelite  at  last  declared  that  nothing  could 
come  from  God  without  a  sign,  and  she  replied 
with  great  dignity,  "I  am  not  come  to  Poitiers 
to  show  signs.  Send  me  to  Orleans  and  I  will 
show  you  a  sign  there.  Give  me  soldiers  many  or 
few  and  I  will  raise  the  siege." 

Long  before  this,  the  seeker  after  signs  had 
been  condemned.  The  divine  witness  is  never  a 

76 


THE  PROMISED  SIGN  77 

sign  but  always  the  truth.  When  one  of  the 
learned  doctors  from  the  University  of  Paris 
quoted  many  learned  authorities  to  prove  that 
they  should  not  believe  in  her,  she  replied, '  *  There 
is  far  more  in  my  Lord's  books  than  in  all  yours." 

Some  of  her  answers  to  impertinent  questions 
were  curt  enough  to  enlist  the  admiration  of  her 
inquisitors.  When  Seguin,  who  spoke  very  poor 
French,  tried  to  confuse  her  by  asking  what  lan- 
guage her  Voices  spoke,  she  replied, ' '  They  speak 
a  better  language  than  you  do." 

After  a  wearisome  day  with  these  learned  ques- 
tioners, another  delegation  was  brought  in. 

''Listen!"  she  said  to  these  new  tormentors  of 
her  truth, ' '  I  know  neither  A  nor  B,  but  only  that 
I  am  sent  by  the  King  of  Heaven  to  raise  the 
siege  of  Orleans  and  to  crown  the  King  at 
Rheims."  Then,  asking  for  pen,  ink  and  paper, 
she  began  dictating,  for  one  of  the  University 
doctors  to  write,  her  famous  letter  to  the  English 
demanding  their  surrender  to  the  French,  because 
they  were  out  of  order  with  God's  laws  by  oc- 
cupying French  territory  and  oppressing  the 
French  people. 

In  all  these  questionings,  all  the  testimony  of 
witnesses  were  taken  down  in  writing  by  official 
notaries,  and  sworn  to,  so  that  every  detail  that 
could  be  found,  as  to  her  thinking,  as  to  her  con- 
duct or  her  character,  was  officially  recorded. 
But  besides  the  examination  made  by  the  many 
learned  doctors,  and  the  testimony  of  all  who  had 


78 JOAN  OF  ARC 

ever  known  her,  Charles  caused  her  to  be  visited, 
privately  and  otherwise,  by  trustworthy  women 
of  the  court  and  by  girls  of  her  own  age.  She 
was  secretly  watched  and  every  act  reported. 
But  all  reports  agreed  that  she  was  incessantly 
engaged  as  would  become  one  with  a  mission  such 
as  hers.  Her  devotions  were  always  most  ear- 
nest and  sincere. 

A  few  days  later,  she  was  subjected  to  a  final 
test,  after  everything  had  been  done  that  ingenu- 
ity could  invent  to  find  some  imperfection  in  her 
either  from  a  social  point  of  view  or  from  the  re- 
quirements of  the  church.  She  was  brought  unex- 
pectedly into  the  presence  of  Queen  Yolande  and 
her  court  of  royal  ladies.  They  questioned  her 
and  applied  every  test  they  could  think  of.  But 
there  was  nothing  that  was  not  beautiful,  good 
and  true. 

All  evidences  were  now  in  and  Queen  Yolande 
went  into  the  council  chamber  where  she  publicly 
announced  to  the  assembled  court  and  courtiers 
that  "no  fault  can  be  found  in  Jeanne  d'Arc.  She 
is  chaste,  modest,  simple-minded,  and  good;  she 
is  truly  fitted  for  her  wonderful  mission,  noble  in 
every  glory  of  her  sex,  and  free  from  all  feminine 
weakness  but  tears." 

2.  The  Most  Remarkable  Certificate  of  Character 
in  History 

All  possible  investigation  and  analysis  of  the 
character,  motives  and  intelligence  of  Joan  now 


THE  PROMISED  SIGN  79 

having  been  exhaustively  searched,  proven  and 
recorded,  a  document  was  written  in  the  various 
languages  of  the  interested  nations,  and  sent  to 
the  various  governors,  especially  to  the  English 
camps  besieging  Orleans. 

A  condensed  translation  of  the  document  is  as 
follows : 

'  *  Charles  VII,  of  France,  seeing  the  necessity 
of  his  kingdom,  and  considering  the  prayers  of 
his  poor  people,  ought  not  to  reject  the  offer 
of  the  Maid,  who  says  God  has  sent  her  to  give 
him  victory.  But,  following  God's  written 
word,  he  ought  to  prove  her  in  two  principal 
ways :  by  human  prudence,  such  as  inquiry  into 
her  life,  conduct  and  intentions ;  and  by  devout 
prayer  asking  for  some  unmistakable  witness 
whether  she  be  come  by  the  will  of  God,  as  did 
Hezekiah,  Gideon  and  others. 

"The  King  has  done  all  this.  For  six  weeks 
he  has  proven  her  in  every  part  of  her  mind 
and  life,  by  scholars,  ecclesiastics,  pious  men, 
men  of  war,  noble  ladies,  wives,  widows  and 
children.  Publicly  and  privately,  in  every  man- 
ner and  form,  have  they  searched  and  not  one 
has  found  in  her  any  substance  or  shadow  of 
evil,  but  only  chastity,  humility,  piety,  devo- 
tion, simplicity  and  womanly  honor.  Besides, 
of  her  birth  and  life  many  marvelous  things 
are  faithfully  witnessed  as  being  true. 

"  As  to  the  second  means,  of  proving  her,  the 


80 JOAN  OF  ARC 

King  has  required  of  her  a  divine  sign  that  she 
is  from  God.  To  this  she  replies,  that  before 
the  beleaguered  city  of  Orleans,  she  will  show 
him  a  sign,  for  so  God  has  commanded  her. 

"Having  regard  to  this,  that  no  harm  is  found 
in  her ;  considering  her  unceasing  perseverance 
and  the  urgency  of  her  plea,  to  doubt  her  and 
to  set  her  aside  in  whom  there  is  no  appearance 
of  evil,  would  be  to  disrespect  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  Grace,  and  to  render  himself  unworthy  of 
the  succor  of  God." 


3.  On  the  Wonderful  Way. 

La  Pucelle  was  now  officially  acknowledged  to 
be  the  agent  of  the  King  of  Heaven,  divinely  em- 
powered to  restore  France  to  its  place  among  the 
nations.  Her  fame  spread  far  and  wide.  Sol- 
diers who  had  long  given  up  all  as  lost  now  gath- 
ered courage  and  flocked  to  her  standard  aflame 
with  zeal  for  her  great  work.  She  was  soon  pano- 
plied in  all  the  gorgeous  display  of  war.  But  this 
was  not  her  desire.  It  was  the  court's  idea  of  a 
holy  show.  The  people  were  to  be  impressed  by 
display  instead  of  truth.  She  was  an  agent  pos- 
sessing given  power.  Divinity  must  have  royal 
robes.  She  had  a  body-guard,  chaplins  and  atten- 
dants. Two  of  her  brothers  were  now  with  her. 
She  was  clad  in  armor  made  for  her  at  Tours.  A 
strangely  wrought  sword  was  found  in  Saint 
Catherine's  at  Fierbois,  as  revealed  to  her  by  the 


THE  PROMISED  SIGN  81 

Voices.      John    Davies    in   his    "  Historic    Pro- 
logues," describing  her,  wrote, 

"Soon  as  the  saintly  sword  is  found, 
Long  time  entombed  in  holy  ground, 
Armed  cap-a-pie,  Joan  takes  the  field, 
Celestial  agency  her  shield." 

Jean  de  Metz  was  now  her  treasurer  and  she 
had  a  well  appointed  household,  organized  by  di- 
rection of  the  King.  A  special  flag  or  standard 
of  white  linen  was  made  for  her  as  directed  by 
her  Voices.  The  Savior  of  the  world  was  pictured 
on  it  seated  on  a  throne  in  the  clouds  holding  a 
globe  in  his  hands. 

The  Maid  always  bore  this  standard  with  her 
in  battle  instead  of  a  sword.  When  asked  why 
she  did  this,  she  replied,  at  one  time,  "I  love  my 
banner  forty  times  more  than  my  sword";  at  an- 
other time  she  said,  "I  can  not  carry  a  sword  to 
shed  blood." 

Amidst  all  the  jealousies,  her  conduct  was  al- 
ways superior  and  faultless,  so  that  no  one  ever 
dared  to  approach  her  with  any  intent  of  evil. 
Especially  did  all  women  devoutly  believe  in  her. 
She  was  always  joyous  and  felicitous  in  expres- 
sion. Her  words  of  praise  were  always  strength- 
ening the  courage  of  those  around  her.  By  the 
King's  commands  no  one  should  do  her  any  dis- 
pleasure and  he  made  it  known  among  the  sol- 
diers that  her  will  was  law.  But  she  took  such 
responsibility  with  all  the  ease  that  had  been 


82 JOAN  OF  ARC 

hers  in  attending  her  father's  flocks  in  the  fields 
of  Domremy.  She  took  command  with  sternness  of 
attitude  and  imperialism  of  purpose  equal  to  any 
master  of  men  in  war.  Most  of  all  she  demanded 
that  only  soldiers  of  clean  conscience  should  be 
enrolled  in  her  train.  She  required  the  freedom 
from  fear  provided  for  in  confession  so  that  no 
arm  should  be  unnerved  in  battle  by  fear  of  death, 
and  the  displeasure  of  God. 

4.  The  Great  Hope  That  Came  to  Orleans 

Orleans  was  the  last  great  stronghold  between 
the  English-Burgundian  armies  and  the  remnant 
of  the  French  kingdom.  The  Duke  of  Orleans, 
who  was  its  masterful  soldier,  had  been  captured 
at  Agincourt,  in  1415,  and  remained  a  prisoner 
in  England  for  twenty-five  years.  If  Orleans  fell 
it  was  known  that  the  enemy  would  roll  over 
France  and  sweep  the  kingdom  out  of  existence. 

According  to  the  Orleans  chronicler,  at  the  time 
when  they  received  the  first  news  of  the  appear- 
ance at  Chinon  of  La  Pucelle,  "All  the  citizens 
and  dwellers  in  Orleans  were  come  to  such  straits 
by  reason  of  the  besiegers  that  they  knew  not  to 
whom  to  turn  for  help,  save  to  God  alone." 

In  the  midst  of  this  despair,  some  adventurers 
were  admitted  through  the  gates  who  told  the 
wonderful  story  of  a  girl  from  Lorraine  who  had 
power  from  God.  No  one  could  ridicule  such  a 
source  of  relief  when  it  was  their  only  hope. 


THE  PROMISED  SIGN  83 

Dunois,  commander  of  the  garrison,  in  order  to 
satisfy  the  people,  sent  two  officers  to  see  if  there 
could  be  any  reliance  in  this  strange  new  hope. 
When  they  returned,  the  starving  people  gathered 
around  them  and  heard  that  through  a  wonderful 
Maid,  surely  God  was  coming  to  help  them. 

5.  The  Beginning  of  the  Sign  at  Orleans 

La  Pucelle  was  an  unsurpassed  organizer  of 
fragments  into  solidified  purpose.  She  was  going 
to  Orleans  as  the  instrument  and  emissary  of 
God  and  her  army  must  be  god-like  in  both  heart 
and  equipment.  Religious  enthusiasm  operating 
as  patriotism  has  never  known  anything  like  this 
unless  it  was  so  under  Cromwell. 

Her  first  act  at  Blois  was  to  send  the  summons 
she  had  dictated  to  the  University  professor  at 
Poitiers,  ordering  the  English  to  abandon  the 
siege  of  Orleans. 

Some  of  the  characteristic  interests  in  it  are 
here  related. 

Addressing  the  King  of  England  and  others  in 
their  order,  she  says,  "Do  right  to  the  King  of 
Heaven.  Surrender  to  La  Pucelle  sent  hither  by 
God,  for  the  Dauphin  of  France,  the  keys  of  all 
the  good  cities  that  you  have  taken  and  violated 
in  France.  She  is  ready  to  make  peace  if  you  will 
do  right,  and  set  free  the  kingdom  of  France. 

"To  you,  archers,  companions  of  war,  gentle 
and  valiant,  and  to  all  others  who  are  before  the 


JOAN  OF  ARC 


cities  of  Orleans,  in  the  name  of  God,  begone  into 
your  own  land ;  or  else  expect  news  from  La  Pu- 
celle,  who  will  see  you  presently,  to  your  very 
great  dismay. 

"King  of  England,  I  am  chief  of  war,  .  .  . 
sent  of  God,  hand  to  hand  to  thrust  you  out  of 
France.  ...  If  you  will  not  believe  this  word 
from  God  by  the  Maid,  when  we  meet  you  we  will 
fall  on  you  with  such  a  hunting-cry  as  has  not 
been  heard  in  France  for  a  thousand  years. 

"Duke  of  Bedford,  the  Maid  prays  that  you 
will  not  brave  your  destruction.  If  you  do  right 
to  her  call,  in  the  name  of  God,  you  may  yet  come 
into  her  company,  when  the  French  shall  have 
performed  the  grandest  deed  that  ever  was  done 
for  Christianity." 

Two  of  Jeanne's  heralds  were  sent  to  convey 
the  message  to  the  English  camp  but  the  English 
soldiers  received  it  with  outbursts  of  both  deris- 
ion and  rage.  Contrary  to  the  rules  of  war,  the 
messengers  were  held  under  threat  of  being 
burnt,  but  this  was  not  carried  out. 

A  bright  little  glimpse  of  the  Maid,  when  she 
went  to  Selles  to  prepare  for  the  campaign,  is  to 
be  seen  in  a  letter  written  by  Guy  and  Andre  de 
Laval  to  their  mother  and  grandmother.  Being 
kinsmen  of  the  King's  favorite,  La  Tremouille, 
the  widowed  mother  expected  them  to  have  a 
place  of  honor  next  to  the  King:  But  when  they 
reached  Selles  they  met  La  Pucelle  and  a  place 


THE  PROMISED  SIGN  85 

by  the  King  was  no  longer  to  them  the  place  of 
honor. 

"To  see  her  and  hear  her,"  they  wrote,  "she 
seems  altogether  divine. " 

They  begged  to  become  part  of  the  military 
guard  attending  her,  but  Joan  had  learned  of 
their  mother's  desire  for  them  to  be  with  the 
King,  and  she  advised  them  to  wait  and  attend 
him  at  his  coronation  in  Kheims. 

"But,"  Guy  wrote  in  telling  of  their  disappoint- 
ment, "God  can  never  choose  me  to  do  this,  and 
not  go  with  her,  and  my  brother  says  the  same, 
as  does  also  my  Lord  of  Alenc.on." 

In  this  letter  he  also  said,  "I  saw  her  mount, 
all  in  white  armor,  except  her  head,  on  a  great 
white  charger.  .  .  .  Then  she  turned  toward  the 
church  door,  which  was  close  by,  and  said  in  a 
pleasant  woman's  voice,  'You  priests  and  church- 
men, make  a  procession  and  prayers  to  God.' 
She  then  rode  on,  crying,  ' Forward!  Forward!' 
her  furled  banner  being  carried  by  a  comely 


page." 


6.  The  Warrior  Maid 


La  Pucelle  insisted  vigorously  on  the  expulsion 
of  all  evil  agencies  from  the  camp  and  that  it 
should  be  purified  of  its  immoral  conditions.  An 
altar  was  erected  where  all  religious  devotions 
should  be  performed,  and  she  required  the  sever- 
est discipline  of  religious  righteousness  among 
all  the  men.  Mounted  upon  a  large  white  charger, 


86 JOAN  OF  ARC 

and  clad  in  white  armor,  surrounded  by  a  bril- 
liant array  of  knights  and  officers,  she  marched 
forth  upon  her  historic  way.  Waving  her  ban- 
ners, she  chanted  the  Veni  Creator,  until  the  sa- 
cred strain  was  taken  up  by  the  whole  army. 

The  three  days'  march  to  Orleans  was  like  a 
triumphal  procession.  The  arrival  in  sight  of 
the  town  was  hailed  by  the  starving  citizens  as 
indeed  deliverance  from  heaven.  But  the  besieg- 
ers had  been  given  time,  in  the  long  delay,  and 
they  used  it  in  proving  their  belief  in  the  genuine- 
ness of  the  Maid's  mission,  by  developing  the 
most  elaborate  system  of  siege.  There  was  not  a 
single  point  not  well  guarded  and  strongly  en- 
trenched. 

One  of  the  examiners  at  Poitiers,  knowing  the 
military  ring  around  the  city,  said,  "It  would  be 
a  famous  exploit  to  pass  enough  food  through 
such  a  force  to  relieve  Orleans." 

She  replied,  "By  my  Martin-baton  we  shall  do 
it  with  ease!  Not  an  Englishman  will  stir  or 
make  any  show  of  hindering  us." 

She  proposed  to  send  sixty  wagons  of  supplies 
and  hundreds  of  oxen,  cows,  sheep  and  swine  di- 
rectly through  the  strongest  forces  that  were  in- 
vesting Orleans.  Her  military  commanders  were 
dumbfounded.  Word  was  got  through  to  Dunois, 
the  commander  in  the  city,  and  he  returned  the 
opinion  that  it  was  too  rash  a  plan  to  be  thought 
of.  But  La  Pucelle  refused  to  listen  to  prudence 
or  caution.  The  commanders  were  in  a  quan- 


THE  PROMISED  SIGN  87 

dary.  They  were  under  strict  orders  to  obey 
her  every  command.  As  they  could  not  change 
her  mind  they  decided  to  mislead  her.  She  did 
not  know  the  way  to  the  approaches  of  the  city, 
so  they  led  the  way  to  the  approach  most  suited 
to  their  own  judgment. 

The  march  up  to  the  city  was  vision  enough  for 
any  imagination.  Joan  carried  her  standard  with 
all  the  inspiring  beauty  conceivable  for  the  ' '  An- 
gelic Maid, ' '  as  the  soldiers  called  her.  Her  quick 
glance  and  instantly-acting  judgment  allowed  no 
detail  of  her  plans  to  be  abused.  In  an  imperious 
way,  emphasizing  her  decrees  against  evil  things, 
she  ordered  all  immoral  campfollowers  to  be 
driven  away. 

The  army  marched  to  the  sacred  chants  and 
the  sounds  of  song  mingled  with  the  low  of  cattle 
and  the  shouts  of  the  herders.  But  the  Maid 
heard  only  one  voice,  in  the  midst  of  her  enor- 
mous responsibility.  That  voice  was  continually 
her  comforter  and  her  guide. 

' '  Go  on,  go  on ! ' '  it  said,  ' l  Jeanne,  daughter  of 
God;  I  will  be  with  thee  and  be  thy  help." 

As  in  echoing  chorus  the  chanted  verses  of  a 
thousand  songs  surrounded  her  like  clouds  of 
glory.  It  was  the  profound  religious  cry  of 
France  for  pardon  and  pity,  for  rest  and  peace. 
The  soldiers  who  had  been  beaten  till  they  had 
lost  all  faith  and  hope  looked  upon  her  saintly  fig- 
ure moving  on  and  on  before  them,  and  they  felt 
the  power  of  divine  might  against  the  evil  that 


S8 JOAN  OF  ARC 

had  crushed  the  people  for  a  hundred  years.  And 
yet  that  form  of  hope  before  them  was  the  very 
name  of  weakness  known  as  woman,  and  this  one 
little  more  than  a  child.  But  something  in  her 
was  the  making  of  the  ages.  She  claimed  the  right 
that  was  might,  before  which  the  greed  for  power 
and  the  lust  for  conquest  must  fall. 

The  peasant  maid  realized  for  them  that  the 
fight  for  man  was  irresistible  when  it  was  a  fight 
for  God.  From  their  despairing  souls  a  great  cry 
of  renewed  faith  arose  as  they  sang  the  song  of 
the  Holy  Ghost: 

"Lighten  our  darkness,  we  beseech  thee,  0  God, 
Clothe  us  with  love  divine;  hold  up  our  wasted  strength  with 

living  might, 

Be  Thou  our  guide :  our  helper  in  the  midst  of  fear, 
Drive  far  the  enemy  and  give  us  peace." 

7.  Captains  Afraid  to  Trust  the  Military  Wisdom 
of  a  Girl 

When  the  army  of  relief  arrived  at  the  circle 
of  the  enemy's  camps,  Jeanne  discovered  that  she 
had  been  misled  by  her  officers.  But  she  had  no 
need  to  punish  them  for  their  offense.  Any  one 
could  now  see  that  they  had  come  to  the  worst 
place.  As  if  to  make  matters  still  more  ill-timed, 
the  weather  had  become  wild  and  stormy.  The 
only  way  to  get  into  the  city  from  this  place  was 
in  barges  up  the  river.  Still  worse,  the  stream 


THE  ENTRANCE  OF  JEANNE  D'ARC  INTO  ORLEANS 
A  Window  in  the  Cathedral  of  Orleans 


THE  PROMISED  SIGN  89 

was  now  very  low  and  the  heavy  wind  dead 
against  them. 

Some  citizens,  including  the  commander,  Du- 
nois,  came  down  the  river  to  them.  La  Pucelle 
met  them  at  the  shore. 

Singling  out  the  commander,  she  cried  out  in  a 
rebuking  voice,  "Are  you  he  who  advised  us  to 
come  by  this  side  of  the  river,  instead  of  straight 
through  the  English  camps?  If  we  had  come  as 
I  ordered,  we  could  have  got  in  the  relief  with 
much  less  difficulty." 

Dunois  tried  to  excuse  himself  but  she  impa- 
tiently responded,  "By  my  Martin-baton,  the 
counsel  of  God  is  wiser  and  safer  than  yours. 
You  thought  to  deceive  me,  but  you  yourselves  are 
deceived.  I  have  brought  you  the  best  succor  that 
ever  knight  or  city  had,  for  it  is  the  succor  of  the 
King  of  Heaven,  not  given  for  love  of  me,  but  of 
God's  own  good  will,  who  has  had  pity  on  Or- 
leans." 

The  military  council  now  acknowledged  her  su- 
perior plan,  and  everything  was  moved  on  up  the 
river  six  miles.  There  they  found  that  the  wind 
had  changed,  that  the  water  from  recent  rains  in 
the  upper  valley  was  now  deepening  the  river, 
and  that,  true  to  her  prophecy,  the  English  army 
made  no  attempt  to  attack  her  guard  of  troops. 
The  supplies  were  loaded  upon  barges,  pushed 
across  the  river,  driven  far  around  the  strongly 
fortified  bastile  of  Saint  Loup  and  on  into  the 
starving  city  by  the  gate  of  Burgundy. 


8.  Entrance  into  the  City 

The  people  of  Orleans  had  besought  their  offi- 
cers, who  had  gone  out  to  meet  the  Angelic  Maid, 
to  bring  her  back  with  them.  The  officers,  show- 
ing how  well  the  army  was  now  organized  and 
committed  to  her  cause,  said  that  the  people  and 
defenders  in  the  city  were  in  present  need  of  her 
more  than  her  army.  Accordingly  with  a  body 
guard  of  two  hundred  lancers,  pages,  her  brother 
Pierre,  and  numerous  personal  attendants,  she 
entered  the  barge  and  was  taken  safely  past  the 
bastile  of  Saint  Loup,  where  the  English  did  not 
even  make  a  demonstration  of  attack  upon  her. 
Whether  it  was  from  religious  fear,  or  because 
they  did  not  regard  her  and  her  supplies  worth  an 
attempt,  has  never  been  clearly  settled.  Doubt- 
less both  causes  kept  them  within  the  fortress. 
However,  it  was  the  historical  fact  that  unmo- 
lested she  entered  Orleans  with  her  soldiers  and 
supplies,  April  30,  1429,  and  the  beginning  of  a 
great  epoch  in  the  life  of  France  was  now  at  hand. 

Ever  alert  for  righteous  obedience  to  moral 
ideals,  she  rebuked  the  officers  of  Orleans  for 
swearing,  saying  that  they  should  not  swear,  but, 
if  it  seemed  necessary,  they  might  bear  witness 
to  any  important  purpose,  as  she  did,  by  her  Mar- 
tin-baton. And  thereafter,  at  least  in  her  pres- 
ence, so  the  officers  testified,  they  always  swore  by 
their  Martins. 

Thoughtful    for    her    comfort,    they    tried    to 


THE  PROMISED  SIGN  91 

avoid  the  people  and  to  get  her  secretly  into  the 
city  for  a  night  of  rest,  after  her  three  fatiguing 
days  of  travel,  in  which  she  had  not  taken  off  her 
armor.  They  waited  until  dark  to  enter  the  Bur- 
gundy gate.  But  the  people  heard  of  her  coming, 
and  when  she  rode  in  at  eight  o'clock,  the  soldiers 
were  lined  up  with  a  blaze  of  torches,  and  the 
masses  of  people,  starving  and  suffering,  crowded 
around  with  unceasing  shouts  of  joy,  striving 
among  one  another  to  be  the  first  to  kiss  the 
ground  where  her  horse  had  stepped.  Her  bur- 
nished armor  reflected  the  weird  lights,  and  they 
looked  upon  the  shining  one,  thus  bringing  relief 
that  none  else  could  do,  with  the  worship  due  an 
angel  descended  from  heaven.  Had  not  all  the 
world  abandoned  them,  till  this  one  came,  in  the 
name  of  God  with  food  for  the  starving  people ! 
Who  can  imagine  the  feelings  of  the  wonderful 
Maid  as  she  looked  into  the  hunger-bitten  faces  of 
thousands  crying  to  her  as  to  a  saint !  No  dream 
of  the  Domremy  fields  could  equal  this  reality,  as 
mothers  lifted  their  children  that  they  might  be 
blessed  in  seeing  this  daughter  of  God. 

High  over  her  head  she  waved  her  banner  of 
freedom,  cleaving  a  way  through  the  shouting 
people,  crying  in  clear  tones  to  them  at  every  step, 
* '  0  my  people,  hope  thou  in  God !  All  is  well  with 
you !  Have  all  a  good  hope  in  God.  Have  confi- 
dence in  our  Lord,  and  you  shall  be  free!  God 
has  sent  me  to  deliver  Orleans.'* 

What  else  could  they  do  than  believe  in  that 


92 JOAN  OF  ARC 

beautiful  white  vision  of  faith,  hope  and  love! 

Slowly  the  soldiers,  lancers  and  attendants  ten- 
derly pressed  back  the  crowding  throngs  to  make 
way  for  La  Pucelle.  Then  the  crush  to  be  near 
her  was  so  fervent  that  a  torch  was  bent  over 
against  the  banner  and  its  fringe  caught  fire. 
Jeanne  seized  the  flame  and  crushed  it  in  her  bare 
hands.  Everything  was  marvelous.  It  was  all  a 
miracle.  Why  should  they  not  believe  that  no 
other  girl  in  all  history  could  have  done  this,  ex- 
cept God  be  with  her! 

Besides  the  recorded  testimony  of  witnesses,  a 
writer  who  saw  her  enter  Orleans  describes  the 
scenes  with  great  minuteness. 

"All  felt  greatly  comforted,"  he  wrote,  "and, 
as  it  were,  already  unbesieged,  through  the  divine 
virtue  of  which  they  had  heard  in  this  simple 
maid;  whom  they  regarded  right  lovingly,  both 
men  and  women,  and  likewise  the  little  children. ' ' 

9.  The  Feast  of  Honor  and  the  Company  of  a 

Child 

At  last  this  wonderful  procession  came  to  the 
home  of  Jacques  Boucher,  who  was  chancellor  and 
treasurer  of  Orleans  and  whose  wife  was  one  of 
the  most  respected  and  beloved  women  in  the  city. 
There  she  was  lodged  with  her  attendants  who 
were  under  the  management  of  her  two  brothers. 
Her  hostess  helped  her  out  of  her  armor  into  suit- 
able clothing  and  then  led  her  to  the  dining  hall 


THE  PROMISED  SIGN  93 

where  a  great  banquet  was  prepared  with  all  the 
notable  people  there,  but  Jeanne  took  only  a  small 
cup  of  water  and  wine  with  some  pieces  of  toasted 
bread,  and  then  asked  to  retire  to  her  room.  "We 
may  suppose  that  she  had  not  come  to  a  feast, 
and,  in  a  city  where  many  were  starving,  she 
could  not  sit  at  a  table  spread  for  a  banquet.  But, 
these  people,  though  their  desires  were  no  doubt 
good,  could  not  understand  how  much  more  she 
loved  those  she  had  seen  in  the  streets,  that  royal 
display  was  not  in  harmony  with  her  mission  or 
her  moral  law. 

As  she  passed  out  of  the  room  she  noticed  a 
wondering  child  looking  wistfully  at  her  from  the 
door.  It  was  the  eight-year-old  daughter  of  the 
hostess,  little  Karlotte.  La  Pucelle  had  only  one 
request  to  make,  and  this  was  that  the  little  child 
might  be  her  companion  while  she  remained  in 
Orleans.  Her  war  was  not  for  those  who  had 
already  lived  but  for  those  yet  to  live  in  the  need 
of  a  better  way.  Of  such  are  the  Kingdom  of 
Heaven,  who  have  not  yet  received  their  inheri- 
tance, because  of  the  willfulness  of  men.  She 
could  not  renew  her  strength  from  men  of  power- 
ful self-assertion  and  great  will,  for  her  faith  in 
the  might  of  right  things  was,  as  with  these  little 
ones,  in  the  Maker  and  Preserver  of  Life  more 
abundantly. 


CHAPTER  VI 
FEEEDOM  TO  THE  CITY  OF  ORLEANS 

1.    The  Sign  Given  in  the  Miracle  That  Was 
Promised 

BEFORE  Orleans  in  military  camp  was  the  most 
renowned  army  then  in  the  world,  and  of  the  most 
victorious  nation.  God  had  prospered  them  as 
they  verily  believed.  But  now,  confidence  as  to 
being  the  favored  of  a  conquering  God  began  to 
fail,  and  the  assurance  of  the  besiegers  of  their 
righteousness  as  a  mighty  power  fled  from  them 
like  an  actual  spirit,  and  entered  the  French.  The 
whole  city  went  with  the  Maid  to  the  Cathedral 
of  Saint  Croix  to  return  thanks  for  the  marvelous 
goodness  of  God.  The  chronicles  of  that  time 
say,  "Not  one  returned  to  his  home  from  that 
service  but  that  did  feel  within  him  the  strength 
of  ten  men. ' '  But  the  English  did  not  long  enter- 
tain the  thought  that  God  had  deserted  them  to 
enter  the  souls  of  Orleans.  Their  explanation  be- 
came a  settled  conviction  that  the  devil  was  in- 
spiring their  enemies,  and  for  the  time  being  was 
getting  the  best  of  God. 

The  flower  of  the  English  armies  was  there 
safely  housed  in  fortresses  known  as  boulevards 

94 


95 


situated  at  about  even  distances  around  the  city. 
To  be  sure  they  had  let  the  devil's  emissary  get 
into  the  city  with  a  supply  of  food  and  reenforcing 
troops,  but,  when  the  Maid's  army  came  and  tried 
to  break  through  they  would  capture  it,  and  that 
would  be  the  end  of  the  devil's  experiment  with 
the  Maid  and  of  Orleans. 

The  head  men  in  the  army  and  government  of 
Orleans  were  glad  to  get  the  supplies,  and  they 
welcomed  the  enthusiasm  aroused  by  La  Pucelle, 
but  they  were  calloused  military  men,  and  they 
could  not  feel  either  faith  or  interest  in  the  Maid, 
except  as  she  could  serve  their  purpose.  They 
needed  assistance  and  when  it  met  their  ap- 
proval, they  would  accept  the  service  either  of 
devil  or  of  God.  Faith  derived  from  the  con- 
sciousness that  eternal  right  is  infinite  might  was 
in  deadly  conflict  with  the  personal  will  derived 
from  the  reasoning  of  individual  interest.  The 
natural  history  is  self-evident.  Life  in  nature  was 
the  vital  impulse  to  organized  form  adjusted  to 
environment.  Out  of  this,  intelligence  arose  and 
it  formed  the  animal  will.  As  human  intelligence 
realizes  the  intelligence  of  the  universe,  faith 
forms  the  will.  So  the  faith-will  is  in  conflict  with 
the  self-will. 

They  deceived  her  in  every  possible  way  in  or- 
der to  satisfy  the  people  that  they  were  obeying 
her  and  yet  to  have  their  own  way.  La  Pucelle 
saw  through  it  all.  She  was  much  grieved,  but 
she  accepted  their  treachery  merely  as  one  of  the 


96 JOAN  OF  ARC 

obstacles,  and  despite  their  blunders,  led  them  to 
victory. 

Black  suspicion  with  the  credulity  of  ignorance 
was  rapidly  eating  into  the  English  lust  for  con- 
quest and  breaking  the  will  of  the  besiegers.  They 
talked  among  themselves  how  impossible  it  was  to 
war  against  Beelzebub  and  his  devils. 

The  Duke  of  Bedford,  who  was  conducting  the 
siege,  said  in  a  letter  to  King  Henry  VI,  "Your 
people,  assembled  before  Orleans  in  great  num- 
bers, have  received  a  heavy  blow  which  seems  to 
have  fallen  from  the  skies.  This  check  has  come 
to  them,  in  my  opinion,  from  the  foolish  thoughts 
and  unreasonable  fears  which  have  been  brought 
upon  them  by  a  disciple  or  a  limb  of  the  enemy, 
called  the  Maid,  who  has  used  false  enchantments 
and  sorcery. " 

Those  who  had  sought  for  a  sign,  both  at  Chi- 
non  and  Poitiers,  were  now  given  one  that  must 
have  been  indisputable,  even  if  it  was  not  convinc- 
ing. The  great  day  came  on  May  4,  when  four 
thousand  of  the  Maid's  soldiers,  coming  by  the 
way  which  she  had  first  ordered  that  they  should 
come,  marched  on  into  the  city,  about  midday, 
without  a  single  move  by  any  of  the  English  gar- 
risons to  prevent  them.  Thus  was  the  proof  given 
that  had  been  promised  the  doubting  doctors,  the 
miracle  was  performed  that  the  Voices  had  prom- 
ised the  Maid,  and  the  mission  of  the  daughter 
of  God  was  being  fulfilled.  These  historical  facts 
may  be  explained  in  most  any  way  to  suit  the  ex- 


FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY        97 

plainer 's  fancy,  but  nothing  explains  away  the 
demonstration  of  a  woman's  faith  that  eternal 
right  is  infinite  might,  as  a  normal  process  of 
man's  work. 


2.    The  Challenge  to  the  Ordeal  of  Baal  and  God 

Lord  Talbot  was  regarded  as  one  of  the  most 
successful  English  commanders.  He  saw  that 
something  must  be  done  to  get  the  fear  out  of  his 
soldiers.  He  did  all  he  could  to  revile  the  Maid 
as  a  wanton  and  a  witch.  He  derided  the  French 
as  being  under  the  sorcery  of  a  common  camp 
woman.  He  sent  her  word  that  he  would  soon 
capture  her  when  he  would  burn  her  as  a  devil 
from  hell.  This  word-war  was  as  full  of  possible 
consequence  as  any  series  of  battles.  It  is  in  good 
evidence  that  human  battles  may  first  be  lost  or 
won  in  the  regions  of  mind.  It  may  be  some  ex- 
planation of  the  long  belief  in  the  justice  of  duels. 

When  the  messengers  brought  the  worst  of  abu- 
sive challenges  daring  her  to  show  her  Satanic 
power,  this  returned  challenged  was  issued:  "Go 
back,"  she  said  to  the  heralds,  "and  to  Lord  Tal- 
bot say  this  for  me :  '  Come  out  of  your  bastiles 
with  your  host,  and  I  will  come  with  mine;  if  I 
beat  you,  go  in  peace  out  of  France ;  if  you  beat 
me,  burn  me,  according  to  your  desire.'  : 

In  the  afternoon  following  the  unmolested  en- 
trance of  the  relieving  troops,  La  Purcelle  was 
weary  and  she  retired  for  rest  and  sleep.  Con- 


98 JOAN  OF  ARC 

trary  to  her  orders,  some  of  her  over-enthusiastic 
soldiers  organized  a  sortie  to  capture  the  fortress 
of  Saint  Loup,  but  Talbot,  the  English  com- 
mander, repulsed  the  attack  and  drove  the  French 
in  a  rout  back  to  the  city. 

Meanwhile,  La  Pucelle  had  sprung  up  from  her 
sleep,  rushed  out  to  the  page  in  waiting,  and,  shak- 
ing him  vigorously,  said,  "0  blood-guilty  youth, 
why  didst  thou  not  warn  me  that  French  blood  is 
being  shed.  Bring  my  horse ! ' ' 

She  clad  herself  in  her  armor,  seized  her  ban- 
ner, and  galloped  away  to  the  Burgundy  gate. 
There  she  met  some  of  the  wounded  being  brought 
in.  A  chronicler  present  wrote  of  this,  that,  for 
a  moment,  she  reeled  on  her  horse,  faint  at  the 
sight  of  blood.  Then  she  put  spurs  to  her  horse, 
turned  back  the  fugitives  she  met,  and  with  a 
great  shout  flung  herself  and  her  swaying  banner 
into  the  midst  of  the  madly  fighting  men. 

The  English  fell  back  as  if  every  wave  of  the 
banner  was  the  stroke  of  a  sword.  The  French 
flung  themselves  forward  with  shouts  of  praise  to 
God.  The  fort  was  taken  by  storm  and  all  that 
threw  down  their  arms  were  in  mercy  spared. 
The  next  day  being  the  Feast  of  the  Ascension, 
the  Maid's  army  kept  Holy  Day  in  Orleans. 

The  next  day  following  this  service,  Joan  led 
her  soldiers  against  the  bastile  of  the  Augustines, 
and  the  soldiers  went  in  platoons,  as  if  from 
waves  of  her  banner,  over  the  defenses,  driving 
the  English  like  sheep  before  them. 


FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY         99 

3.    The  Power  of  Faith  in  the  Mind  of  Man 

The  great  stronghold  of  Tournelles  was  now  in 
turn  ready  to  be  assailed.  According  to  the  war- 
science  of  the  time,  it  had  been  made  impossible  to 
assault.  The  Orleans  generals  held  a  council  and 
decided  that  they  dare  not  attack  Tournelles  un- 
til they  had  reinforcements  from  the  King.  This 
word  was  brought  to  Joan  and  she  sent  back  the 
statement,  "You  have  taken  your  council,  I  have 
received  mine." 

At  break  of  day  she  was  up  and  on  the  way  to 
lead  the  assault.  On  arriving  at  the  Burgundy 
gate,  she  found  it  closed  by  order  of  the  Council 
of  Generals. 

"You  are  doing  a  bad  deed,"  she  cried  to  the 
keeper  of  the  gate,  "and  my  soldiers  shall  pass." 

The  gate  was  opened.  Joan  galloped  on  with 
her  men  to  the  troops  that  had  been  left  to  hold 
the  fortifications  captured  the  day  before.  They 
rallied  to  her  ensign  and  rushed  on  to  the  assault. 
That  day  would  decide  the  fate  of  Orleans. 

Meanwhile,  the  officers  of  the  army  in  the  city 
had  been  informed  that  La  Pucelle  was  leading 
her  troops  to  the  assault  on  Tournelles.  Though 
believing  it  to  be  impossible  and  that  it  was  a  fatal 
blunder,  they  hurried  to  her  help. 

This  may  be  noted  as  far  more  commendable 
than  has  happened  in  many  a  crisis  in  the  story  of 
Americans.  The  conscientious  objector,  and  no 
one  has  ever  found  anv  other  kind  of  obstruction- 


100 JOAN  OF  ARC 

ist,  is  too  conscientious  ever  to  help  remedy  a 
blunder,  no  matter  how  important  the  need,  when 
made  by  any  one  who  is  not  acting  according  to 
the  objector's  judgment.  This  individualizing  of 
will  as  supreme  for  the  sake  of  party  methods  and 
personal  decision  is  the  soul  of  anarchy  and  the 
invariable  maker  of  despotism  in  any  group,  so- 
cial, political  or  religious,  for  peace  or  war. 

During  the  awful  century  of  bloody  war  that 
had  bled  France  to  hopelessness,  for  then  more 
than  seventy  years,  there  never  had  been  such 
valorous  energy  and  self-sacrificing  heroism,  as 
was  given  wherever  eye  could  see  the  banner  of 
the  Maid  of  Orleans. 

Down  into  the  ditches  went  the  French  with 
sword  and  lance  and  mace.  Up  the  walls  they 
swarmed  on  scaling  ladders  in  the  face  of  show- 
ering arrows,  lances  and  hatchets. 

She  spurred  her  horse  forward  into  the  thickest 
of  the  fight,  shouting  to  her  men,  "On  and  on  to 
victory  for  our  Lord. ' ' 

With  great  shouts  the  English  led  by  Gladsdale 
rushed  out  against  her,  calling  her  all  the  vile 
names  they  could  think  of.  La  Pucelle  heard  him 
and  with  her  standard  raised  aloft  rode  down  upon 
him  at  full  speed. 

"Soldiers,"  she  cried  so  that  her  clarion  voice 
was  heard  over  all  the  tumult  of  battle,  "fear 
not.  Strike  in  among  them  boldly  in  God's  name." 

She  dismounted  in  the  midst  of  the  fighting 


FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY       101 

mass,  striking  furiously  with  the  flat  of  her  sword 
upon  the  enemies'  heads  and  waving  her  banner 
high  as  she  could  reach.  Now  it  was  down,  then 
up  again,  swaying  round  and  round,  as  the  center 
of  all  the  fiercest  wage  of  war. 

4.    The  Banner  Fallen  at  the  Walls 

All  through  the  long  hot  day  of  May  7th,  the 
banner  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans  was  swung  back 
and  forth  at  the  front  of  the  death  struggle  by 
her  tireless  hands.  In  the  afternoon  Joan  sent  an 
arrow  over  the  walls  into  the  English  ranks,  bear- 
ing a  note,  demanding  for  the  third  and  last  time 
that  they  surrender.  Captain  Gladsdale  climbed 
the  walls  and,  waving  the  note  before  him,  shout- 
ed so  she  could  hear,  "News  from  the  harlot  of 
the  Armagnacs!" 

She  began  weeping  at  this  insult  and  then  be- 
came comforted  as  she  called  on  the  King  of 
Heaven  to  clear  her  mind  of  his  evil  words.  Have 
you  heard  a  gossip  slander  a  good  name!  Who 
has  not?  It  is  the  poisonous  thinking  of  an  im- 
moral mind  striving  to  have  a  congenial  world. 

Dunois,  the  commander-in-chief,  was  much  dis- 
couraged with  the  day's  work  and  word  came  to 
her  that  he  was  about  to  order  the  assault  to 
cease.  She  hurried  her  horse  with  all  speed  to  the 
commander  and  implored  him  not  to  give  up  the 
fight.  He  would  not  answer.  Turning  her  horse, 
she  unfurled  her  flag,  saying,  "Watch  my  stand- 


102 JOAN  OF  ARC 

ard;  when  it  reaches  the  walls,  the  fortress  will 
be  ours." 

Dunois  had  become  weary  of  the  unavailing 
struggle.  He  recalled  the  judgment  of  all  his  mili- 
tary associates  that  the  Towers  could  not  be  taken 
by  assault.  But  he  could  not  order  the  soldiers 
back  while  the  banner  of  God  was  going  with  all 
the  speed  of  the  white  horse  toward  the  English 
walls.  Such  commands  would  be  unheard.  The 
soldiers  were  following  like  a  great  human  wave 
the  flowing  banner  and  the  call  of  the  wonderful 
woman. 

It  was  turning  late  in  the  afternoon  of  what 
seemed  to  be  a  hopeless  day  for  Orleans  and 
France,  as  she  led  this  final  terrific  assault.  "On, 
soldiers,  on,"  were  the  words  that  reached  the 
men  like  the  cry  of  a  mother  to  her  sons.  "In  the 
name  of  God,  the  victory  is  ours."  The  weari- 
ness of  the  long  dreadful  day's  struggle  was  gone. 
The  power  of  faith  gave  the  renewed  strength  of 
ten  men  to  every  man. 

Beaching  the  moat,  she  sprang  from  her  horse 
and  crossed  safely  over,  waving  her  banner  and 
calling  victory  to  the  soldiers  still  struggling  to 
break  through  or  to  climb  over  the  ramparts. 

Before  her,  against  the  wall,  was  an  empty 
scaling  ladder  from  which  the  men  had  been 
driven  by  a  shower  of  stones.  She  went  up  to  it 
with  the  intention  of  climbing  it  herself  when  it 
was  suddenly  thrown  down  by  someone  of  the 
enemy  from  above.  Thrusting  her  banner  into 


FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY       103 

the  hands  of  an  attendant,  she  raised  the  ladder 
back  to  its  place  by  her  own  strength.  Then  she 
took  the  banner  and  began  to  climb,  when  a  heavy 
bolt  from  a  crossbow  struck  her  in  the  shoulder 
near  the  neck.  The  blow  struck  her  backward  to 
the  ground,  where  she  lay  as  one  dead.  A  fierce 
volley  of  arrows  and  stones  drove  all  the  soldiers 
back  across  the  moat,  while  loud  shouts  of  victory 
were  heard  all  around  the  Towers. 

5.     The  Wounded  Warrior 

The  English  saw  her  fall  from  the  ladder,  and 
they  believed  this  meant  the  end  of  resistance  for 
Orleans.  To  capture  her  was  better  than  any 
other  victory.  They  rushed  forth  to  get  her  body. 
But  Gamaches,  one  of  the  knights  of  her  body 
guard,  sprang  to  her  defense  with  all  fury  in  his 
battle-ax.  He  beat  back  the  assailants  until  the 
soldiers  could  rally  to  her  rescue.  They  drove  the 
shouting  victors  back  and  Gamaches,  though  sore- 
ly wounded,  carried  her  across  the  moat.  Then 
she  was  placed  upon  a  horse  and  removed  to  the 
rear  where  she  could  receive  proper  care. 

Doulon,  who  was  present,  wrote  a  noteworthy 
account  describing  the  feelings  of  the  rough  men 
around  her.  The  arrow  had  gone  through  her 
shoulder  near  the  neck,  and  it  was  necessary  to 
turn  down  her  clothing  to  stop  the  blood  in  the 
long  ugly  wound.  "But  the  purity  of  her  soul, 
and  the  sight  of  her  blood  shed  for  her  country," 


104 JOAN  OF  ARC 

said  Doulon,  writing  of  the  scene,  "  clothed  her 
with  such  sanctity  in  her  nakedness  that  an  im- 
pure thought  was  impossible." 

The  soldiers  looked  upon  her  as  a  saint,  and 
yet,  like  a  child  that  she  was,  she  wept  at  the  sight 
of  blood,  but  was  brave  enough  to  draw  out  the 
arrow  with  her  own  hand,  and  to  forget  her  pain 
in  the  peril  of  her  cause. 

Let  it  be  noted  here  again  that  Joan  had  no  su- 
perstitions. Friends  crowded  around  her  trying 
to  touch  her  wounds  with  special  charms  they  car- 
ried. She  cried  out  for  them  not  to  do  so.  For 
what  this  was  to  them  she  had  nothing  to  say,  but 
for  her  it  was  a  sin.  God  did  not  work  His  bless- 
ings through  inappropriate  or  irrelevant  things. 
She  preferred  a  dressing  of  olive  oil,  though  she 
cried  like  a  child  with  the  pain  as  they  dressed  the 
ragged  and  dangerous  wound. 

The  French  were  now  fast  being  overpowered 
and  in  many  places  were  in  full  retreat.  She  in- 
quired for  her  banner.  Doulon  had  seen  it  lying 
in  the  moat  where  it  had  fallen  from  the  ladder. 
With  a  few  brave  soldiers  he  ran  back  to  secure 
it  for  her.  Realizing  what  was  happening,  she 
mounted  Gamache's  horse  and  rode  up  to  them 
as  they  came  out  of  the  ditch  with  her  banner. 
The  knight  handed  it  to  her,  a  gust  of  wind  caught 
its  folds  and  made  it  stream  out  toward  the  walls 
as  if  pointed  by  the  hand  of  God.  A  shout  arose 
among  the  soldiers.  "The  Maid  is  restored  to 
life!  She  beckons  us  to  come  on!"  and  they  came 


FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY       105 

on  like  a  returning  wave  of  the  sea.  The  English 
were  stricken  with  fear.  They  had  seen  her  cut 
through  by  an  English  bolt.  They  had  seen  her 
fall.  They  had  shouted  the  news  of  her  death 
throughout  all  the  ramparts  and  towers.  Here  she 
was  back  again.  Her  banner  streaming  toward 
their  walls.  She  could  not  be  killed!  She  had 
been  restored  to  life !  Back  of  her  the  oncoming 
wave  of  shouting  soldiers  witnessed  her  resur- 
rection. Flesh  and  blood  could  not  withstand 
such  miracles.  The  strength  fled  from  their  weak- 
ened arms.  They  were  unable  to  draw  a  bow- 
string or  hurl  a  stone.  Every  soldier,  long  there- 
after, French,  English  and  Burgundians,  as  each 
told  the  story  wherever  he  went,  declared  that  he 
saw  legions  of  countless  numbers  coming  on  earth 
and  in  the  clouds.  They  saw  the  smoke  and  flame 
of  cannon  and  the  flash  of  avenging  swords  filling 
the  air  and  sky.  However  it  was,  in  that  strange 
hour  was  won  the  most  amazing  victory  in  the  re- 
gions of  mind.  Perhaps  it  may  be  a  symbol  of 
how  the  self-system  of  evil  goes  into  chaos  before 
the  might  of  right.  The  self-made  will  can  not 
fight  for  evil  as  the  faith-made  mind  can  fight  for 
social  justice. 

Byron  uses  her  heroic  figure,  seen  here,  for  one 
of  his  striking  contrasts  in  English  Bards  and 
Scotch  Eeviewers,  saying, 

"First  in  the  ranks,  see  Joan  of  Arc  advance, 
The  scourge  of  England  and  the  boast  of  France !" 


106  JOAN  OF  ARC 

6.    The  Banner  Over  the  Walls 

One  of  the  soldiers  with  her,  writing  of  the  bat- 
tle, says  that,  as  they  fought  around  her,  close  to 
the  ditch  at  the  walls,  a  white  cloud  was  seen 
floating  around  her  standard.  At  that  moment 
she  cried  out,  ''Into  the  fort,  children;  in  God's 
name  the  fort  is  ours. ' ' 

"And  never,"  says  this  writer,  "was  seen  flocks 
of  birds  lighting  on  a  hedge  as  thick  as  were  the 
French  climbing  up  the  walls." 

"That  night,"  he  continues,  describing  how 
Joan  rode  back  victorious  as  she  had  foretold, 
"all  the  bells  of  the  city  began  ringing,  and  the 
people  were  shouting  their  praise  and  thanks  to 
God." 

They  formed  a  procession  in  gratitude  for 
God's  mercy,  and,  excepting  only  for  brief  inter- 
vals, that  procession  has  been  continued  and  has 
celebrated  the  deliverance  that  came  with  the 
Maid,  every  year  through  all  the  changes  of  now 
nearly  five  hundred  years. 

Several  writers  of  that  time  tell  us  that  it  was 
near  sunset  as  she  led  the  final  assault  upon  the 
stronghold  called  "The  Towers."  The  English 
soldiers  were  probably  the  best  in  Europe  but 
they  could  not  fight  what  they  could  not  kill.  They 
fled  in  terror  panic-stricken  from  the  tireless  sol- 
diers of  the  woman.  All  testify  that  above  the 
tumult  of  battle  could  be  heard  her  cry,  "In  the 
name  of  God,  the  victory  is  ours." 


FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY       107 

In  a  mass,  the  terrified  soldiers  driven  out  of 
the  forts  crowded  upon  the  bridge  across  the 
Loire.  Sir  William  Gladsdale,  the  commander 
who  had  reviled  her  in  such  vulgar  language  and 
called  her  the  harlot  of  the  Armagnacs,  was  among 
them. 

" Surrender ! "  she  cried  to  him.  "Surrender 
that  I  may  save  your  life,  for  I  have  great  pity  on 
your  soul." 

But  he  hurled  back  a  vile  epithet  at  her  and 
would  not  heed  her  mercy.  Then  the  bridge  wenf; 
down,  the  heavy  armor  took  all  to  the  bottom,  and 
the  free  waters  of  the  Loire  closed  over  them  for- 
ever. "At  this/'  the  chronicler  writes,  "the 
Maid  wept  bitterly  and  would  not  be  comforted 
for  the  loss  of  so  many  good  men,  who  should 
have  been  Christians  together,  for  the  rescue  of 
the  Savior 's  tomb  and  the  redemption  of  the  Holy 
Land." 

In  such  wasteful  wilfullness  have  many  multi- 
tudes of  good  men  been  lost  to  the  unhappy  world. 
Intelligence  has  not  yet  been  developed  enough  to 
banish  the  reign  of  wills  and  give  place  to  the 
peace  of  faith. 

Southey  has  her  say  in  her  note  to  Gladsdale : 

"That  gracious  God 
Sends  me  the  minister  of  mercy  forth, 
Sends  me  to  save  this  ravaged  realm  of  France, 
To  England  friendly  as  to  all  the  world, 
Foe  only  to  the  great  blood-guilty  ones, 
The  masters  and  the  murderers  of  Mankind." 


108 JOAN  OF  ARC 

So  she  had  been  called  in  the  vast  history  of 
things  to  suffer  that  others  might  understand,  and 
she  at  last  gave  all  to  the  stake  for  the  honor  of 
her  faith  in  God  as  the  personal  sanction  of  the 
Almighty  Universe  to  the  inalienable  rights  and 
duties  of  humanity. 

7.    A  Warrior  Uninterested  in  the  Glory  of  War 

Though  Joan  had  been  in  battle  twelve  hours 
and  for  several  hours  badly  wounded,  she  would 
not  quit  the  field  till  her  wounded  soldiers  were  all 
cared  for,  and  this  was  not  until  long  after  mid- 
night. She  had  eaten  nothing  all  day  and  before 
retiring  to  rest  she  took  only  a  few  pieces  of  toast 
dipped  in  half  water  and  half  wine. 

Twenty-five  years  later,  during  one  of  the  in- 
vestigations, into  her  character,  the  sworn  testi- 
mony of  thirty  persons,  who  were  present  and  fa- 
miliar with  the  conduct  of  La  Pucelle,  was  writ- 
ten down,  and  is  still  preserved,  in  which  the  rec- 
ord of  the  depositions  says,  ''And  in  this  they  all 
agreed,  that  they  had  never  perceived  by  any 
means  whatever  that  the  said  Joan  set  to  the  glory 
of  her  own  valor  the  deeds  that  she  had  done,  but 
rather  ascribed  everything  to  God,  and,  as  far 
as  she  was  able,  prevented  the  people  from  hon- 
oring her,  or  giving  her  the  glory;  for  she  pre- 
ferred to  be  alone  and  solitary  rather  than  to  be 
in  the  company  of  men,  unless  that  was  neces- 
sary for  the  purposes  of  war." 


FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY       109 

Those  who  supposed  that  this  wonderful  child 
of  faith  was  either  mystic  or  visionary  or  super- 
stitious will  find  all  the  testimony  to  witness  that 
she  was  practical,  reasonable  and  normal  beyond 
all  the  surrounding  experiences  of  life.  Joan 
never  showed  the  slightest  trait  of  fanaticism  or 
bigotry.  When  she  was  asked  to  lay  on  her  hands 
to  heal  the  sick,  she  answered, ' '  Touch  them  your- 
selves. Your  hands  are  just  as  good  as  mine." 
This  is  the  democracy  of  genuine  faith  in  a  rea- 
sonable world.  She  was  nowhere  looking  for 
freaks,  she  had  no  whims,  there  is  no  record  of 
any  capricious  will.  The  individual  will  in  its 
drive  for  success  strikes  at  opposing  objects  as 
does  a  snake,  leaps  like  a  wolf  upon  its  prey,  and 
quails  in  cowardice  before  the  darkness  of  every 
unknown  way,  but  faith  moves  on,  facing  faith- 
fully the  far  dream-shores,  even  though  the  jour- 
ney must  pause  to  suffer  the  judgment  and  sat- 
isfy the  wills  of  men  at  the  stake  and  the  cross. 

8.    The  Mountain  Removed 

On  Sunday,  May  8th,  the  English  captains  in 
the  remaining  fortifications  decided  to  make  a 
final  stand.  They  came  from  all  the  remaining 
boulevards  and  drew  themselves  up  in  battle  ar- 
ray. The  French  soldiers  all  came  out  through 
the  near  gates  and  formed  their  battle  lines  before 
the  walls.  But  the  English  gave  no  signal  for  the 
attack. 


110 JOAN  OF  ARC 

The  Maid  with  her  banner  rode  up  and  down  be- 
fore her  line,  speaking  words  of  pious  encourage- 
ment to  her  men.  Then  she  ordered  the  priests 
to  erect  an  altar  where  Mass  could  be  said.  While 
the  priests  were  busy  with  the  Mass,  and  she  was 
deep  in  the  devotions,  without  turning  toward  the 
foe,  she  suddenly  waved  her  banner  and  shouted, 
"Look  and  tell  me  if  the  English  have  their  faces 
to  us  or  their  backs." 

"The  English  are  retreating,"  was  the  answer- 
ing shout,  as  the  soldiers  rose  from  their  knees  to 
look. 

* '  In  God 's  name,  let  them  go, ' '  she  replied.  ' '  It 
is  not  my  Lord 's  will  that  we  should  fight  them  on 
the  Lord's  day." 

Then  was  the  name  and  fame  of  Joan  of  Arc 
immortal  in  the  history  of  the  world.  Forever 
more  it  was  to  be  high  before  Mankind  like  her 
banner  as  a  vision  of  faith  and  hope  for  relief 
against  the  oppressor  in  the  name  of  God  and  his 
social  universe. 

Writers  who  were  there  say  that  in  the  pres- 
ence of  this  victory  her  face  was  transfigured  till 
it  shone  like  the  vision  of  an  angel. 

Shakespeare  in  his  Henry  VI  puts  these  words 
into  Lord  Talbot's  mouth,  who  for  the  first  time 
had  seen  defeat : 

"My  thoughts  are  whirled  like  a  potters  wheel ; 
I  know  not  where  I  am,  nor  what  I  do : 
A  witch,  by  fears  not  force,  like  Hannibal, 
Drives  back  our  troops  and  conquers  as  she  lists." 


FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY       111 

The  whole  civilized  world  was  now  ringing  with 
her  fame.  Thoughtful  people,  realizing  that  some- 
thing of  the  most  far-reaching  consequence  had 
taken  place  in  defeating  treason,  violence  and 
wrong,  began  to  hope  that  God  was  truly  appear- 
ing in  the  affairs  of  man  and  ordering  the  right- 
eousness of  the  world. 

The  lowly  people  around  her  were  giving  her 
the  reverence  due  to  a  saint  and  the  proud  were 
heaping  honors  upon  her  as  the  glory  due  to  a 
mighty  captain  of  victorious  armies.  She  tried  to 
avoid  it  all,  praying  to  God  for  protection  against 
all  such  flattery  and  idolatry. 

An  archbishop,  through  whom  she  had  been 
seeking  the  righteousness  and  peace  of  his  office, 
said  to  her,  "Never  was  seen  in  any  chronicles  of 
the  world  the  like  of  the  deeds  that  you  do.  In 
no  book  can  such  wonders  be  read." 

In  humble  negation  of  personal  merit,  and  may- 
be in  contempt  of  "the  little  learning"  that  makes 
men  mad,  she  replied,  "My  Lord  hath  a  book  of 
wonders  in  which  no  learned  man  has  ever  read." 

9.     The  Harvest  of  Envy  and  Treason  at  the 
Castle  of  Loches 

La  Pucelle  had  completed  her  mission  to  Or- 
leans. Monday  morning  she  gave  her  blue  satin 
hat  to  her  noble  hostess  as  a  keepsake,  kissed  lit- 
tle Karlotte  farewell,  and,  while  the  priests  were 
saying  masses  in  the  churches  for  their  dead,  she 


112 JOAN  OF  ARC 

rode  away  to  Balois,  preliminary  to  a  meeting 
with  the  King  at  Tours. 

Dunois  and  many  of  the  officers,  nobles  and 
knights  of  Orleans,  escorted  her  in  a  triumphant 
cavalcade  to  the  appointed  place  of  meeting.  As 
she  saw  the  King  awaiting  her,  she  rode  ahead 
holding  aloft  her  banner,  till  she  came  up  to  him, 
when  she  stopped  and  bowed  low  her  head.  The 
King  took  off  his  chapeau  and  came  up  to  her  with 
uncovered  head.  He  caressed  her  on  the  cheek 
and  bestowed  upon  her  the  badge  of  the  Eoyal 
Lily  of  France. 

The  people  were  wild  with  joy  and  hailed  her 
as  the  greatest  saint  since  Mary,  the  mother  of 
Christ.  But  the  wavering  King  could  never  be 
sure.  A  poisonous  sneer  had  come  into  his  ear 
from  Tremouille.  A  pious  doubt  had  been  sug- 
gested by  the  crafty  Archbishop  of  Rheims,  and 
the  English,  to  save  themselves  from  some  of  the 
dishonor  of  the  defeat,  were  loudly  proclaiming 
everywhere  that  the  French  King  was  profiting 
by  the  sorceries  of  a  vile  witch.  All  the  politi- 
cians, courtiers  and  hangers-on  about  the  court 
helped  to  defame  her  wherever  they  could,  because 
she  was  no  friend  of  theirs.  The  officers  belittled 
all  she  had  done,  and  in  some  instances,  boldly 
took  it  to  themselves  that  they  had  succeeded  de- 
spite her  crazy  plans.  The  snake  is  never  a  slan- 
derer and  the  hyena  is  never  a  hypocrite.  The 
slanderer  and  hypocrite  alone  inhabit  regions 


FREEDOM  TO  THE  CITY       113 

where  they  may  live  lower  than  any  nature-made 
thing. 

To  counteract  this  rising  tide  of  hate  toward 
her,  a  mild  protest  in  defense  of  her  was  printed 
at  Lyons  only  six  days  after  the  siege  of  Orleans 
had  been  raised.  This  brief  commendation  was 
written  by  Jean  de  Gerson,  known  as  "the  most 
Christian  Doctor." 

In  characterizing  her  he  said,  "She  seeks 
neither  worldly  honors  nor  worldly  men ;  she  ab- 
hors seditions,  revenges,  hatreds  and  vanities ;  she 
lives  in  the  spirit  of  prayer,  in  works  of  grace,  in 
holiness  and  justice.  She  employs  no  surprises, 
no  deceits,  and  she  has  in  view  no  hope  of  gain. 
She  is  seen  to  be  very  firm  in  the  faith;  for  she 
exposes  her  body  to  wounds  without  taking  any 
extraordinary  precautions  to  save  herself.  War- 
riors obey  her  willingly,  and  risk  the  dangers  of 
war  without  fearing  the  disgrace  which  would  fall 
on  them  were  they  beaten,  having  a  woman  to  lead 
them.  She  clothes  herself  as  a  warrior  to  fight 
the  foes  of  justice,  to  defend  her  country,  proving 
that  God  can,  when  he  will,  confound  the  mighti- 
est by  the  hand  of  a  woman." 

Gerson  wrote  from  the  monastery  at  Lyons  ad- 
monishing the  people  to  be  faithful  to  one  who 
could  be  likened  only  to  the  saints  of  scriptural 
times,  and  Gelu,  archbishop  of  Embrum,  warned 
the  people  that  to  fail  her  was  to  betray  the  voice 
of  God. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KING 

1.     The  Wills  and  Their  Ways 

JEANNE  wanted  to  take  the  army  at  once  on  to 
Rheims  but  the  military  management  refused  to 
consider  such  haste  until  the  valley  of  the  Loire 
was  cleared  of  English  troops. 

Charles  retired  in  indolent  peace  to  Loches  and 
took  with  him  Jeanne  and  all  her  company.  The 
Maid  of  Orleans  was  an  object  of  the  greatest  love 
and  veneration  by  all  around  her,  but  the  King 
left  the  management  of  all  his  military  affairs  in 
the  hands  of  his  officers.  Such  things  were  not  a 
woman's  work  and  Jeanne  was  helpless.  "I  have 
but  a  year  and  a  little  more  to  live,"  she  implored 
of  him,  "and  in  that  time  there  is  much  to  do," 
but  the  King  was  satisfied. 

In  a  few  weeks  all  the  army  that  had  flocked  to 
her  standard  went  to  pieces,  and  the  officers  were 
struggling  with  the  problem  of  soldiers  for  the 
sometime  purpose  of  driving  the  English  from  the 
regions  of  the  Loire. 

Jeanne  did  not  like  the  court  nor  the  presence 
of  officers,  and  she  spent  most  of  her  time  with 
the  priests  and  the  common  people  who  loved  her 
so  well. 

114 


PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KING    115 

The  Abbot  of  Talmont  had  been  one  of  her  ex- 
aminers at  Poitiers,  and  he  held  her  in  great  re- 
spect. One  day  in  riding  out  with  her,  he  thought 
it  time  to  reproach  her  for  allowing  so  much  rev- 
erance,  that  amounted  Almost  to  worship,  from 
the  people. .  The  common  folks  knelt  at  the  way- 
side as  she  passed,  they  kissed  her  hands  and  her 
feet,  they  were  happy  to  touch  her  horse  as  it 
passed. 

"Does  it  become  the  Maid,"  he  asked,  "to  suf- 
fer such  honors  to  be  paid  her?  Ought  she  not," 
he  argued,  "really  to  guard  herself  against  the 
reverence  of  these  simple  people,  that  might  eas- 
ily become  idolatry?" 

Jeanne  was  sorely  perplexed  and  grieved  at 
such  a  thing.  She  did  not  know  how  to  repulse  the 
love  of  the  people. 

"In  truth,"  she  replied,  weeping,  "I  know  not 
how  to  keep  me,  unless  God  will  keep  me."  In 
that  reply  is  condensed  the  entire  gospel  of  right- 
eousness. It  is  the  experience  of  every  one  who 
has  tried  to  live  the  will  of  self.  It  is  the  mean- 
ing of  faith  in  a  divine  universe. 

The  Abbot  says  that  he  was  silenced,  and  he 
used  her  statement  in  such  fervent  appeals  to 
righteousness  and  patriotism  in  her  name  that  it 
became  a  famous  saying,  and  it  is  still  on  the 
way  of  meaning  for  a  social  world. 

Here  and  there  are  little  incidents  along  the 
way,  that  happened  to  get  into  the  records,  which 
are  worth  more  in  understanding  this  wonderful 


116 JOAN  OF  ARC 

woman  than  any  victory  in  battle,  for  it  was  the 
deadlier  battle  with  the  treason  of  courtiers  and 
priests.  One  of  these  describes  a  deserter  whose 
family  had  died  in  the  famine  and  he  refused  to 
fight  because  he  had  nothing  more  to  live  for. 
"Look  into  my  eyes,"  she  commanded  when  he 
said  this,  "and  tell  me  have  you  nothing  to  live 
for  while  there  is  France  and  God!"  A  transfor- 
mation took  place  in  the  man's  mind  as  he  looked 
into  those  deep  blue  eyes.  Another  vision  of  ex- 
istence was  substituted.  He  kissed  her  hand  and 
fell  upon  his  knees  at  her  feet.  Then  he  arose, 
bravest  of  the  brave,  as  the  chronicler  tells  it,  a 
soldier  of  France  and  a  warrior  for  the  social  jus- 
tice of  God. 


2.    Pearls  of  Great  Price  Before  Swine 

The  month  of  May  was  coming  to  an  end.  Du- 
nois  came  to  Loches  with  a  plan  to  be  sanctioned 
for  clearing  the  valley  of  the  Loire,  but  Jeanne 
wanted  an  army  to  clear  the  way  to  Eheims  so 
that  the  King  could  be  crowned  and  her  mission 
be  finished.  After  that  they  could  purge  the  land 
of  English  troops. 

One  day  when  the  King  was  holding  his  seem- 
ingly endless  session  of  councils,  this  time  with  a 
small  group  of  his  most  confidential  advisers,  "all 
as  by  chance  being  good  men  believed  in  by 
Jeanne,"  she  knocked  at  the  council  door.  They 
bade  her  come  in.  She  went  up  to  the  King,  knelt 


PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KING    117 

at  his  feet  and  embracing  his  knee,  said,  "Noble 
Dauphin,  do  not  hold  so  many  long  tedious  coun- 
cils, but  come  quickly  to  the  task  that  you  may 
receive  your  crown  at  Kheims." 

Dunois,  who  was  present  here,  records  an  inci- 
dent that  gives  a  realistic  glimpse  of  their  atti- 
tude toward  her,  and  the  possible  explanation  of 
her  Voices  as  being  flashes  of  brilliant  intuition, 
so  strong  as  to  seem  to  her  to  be  outside  the 
senses,  and  thus  objectively  alive  to  the  sensitive 
soul  of  this  wonderful  girl.  Her  description  and 
explanation  of  her  Voices,  in  order  to  be  reason- 
able, had  to  fill  out  the  intuitional  vision  with  the 
forms  of  her  own  reality.  In  fact,  the  impartial 
investigator  often  believes  he  can  detect  evidences 
of  form  being  given  to  her  explanations  in  order 
to  make  them  seem  as  reasonable  to  others  as  to 
herself.  This  does  not  in  any  sense  imply  de- 
ception, even  in  any  attempt  to  clothe  with  reason- 
able appearances  whatever  seems  to  be  the  most 
reasonable  in  the  reality  of  mind. 

She  had  risen  from  her  knees  before  the  King, 
as  she  implored  him  to  follow  up  the  victories  and 
move  on  to  Rheims,  where  he  would  be  crowned 
the  real  King  of  France. 

Christopher  de  Harcourt,  Grand  Master  of  the 
Forests,  asked  her  if  her  counsel  had  told  her 
thus  to  dispense  with  their  council.  She  answered 
promptly  that  it  had. 

"Will  you  tell  us  here,  in  the  King's  presence," 


118 JOAN  OF  ARC 

he  continued,  "in  what  manner  your  counsel 
speaks  when  it  tells  you  what  to  do?" 

"In  my  own  mind,"  she  answered  humbly,  "I 
perceive  what  you  wish  to  know  and  I  will  tell 
you." 

The  King  interposed  kindly  to  save  her  feelings. 
"Jeanne,"  he  asked,  "does  it  please  you  thus  to 
declare  this  thing  before  these  witnesses'?" 

She  said  it  did.  Then  she  began,  in  much  hesi- 
tation and  confusion,  seeking  for  words  to  convey 
her  meaning,  by  first  telling  them  how  unhappy  it 
made  her  to  find  they  had  so  little  faith  in  her 
message  from  God.  So  in  her  grief  she  entreated 
her  Lord  to  tell  her  what  to  do  to  banish  their  un- 
belief. She  said  that  always  in  such  a  prayer 
she  clearly  heard  a  voice  saying,  "Go  on,  Daugh- 
ter of  God;  I  am  with  thee  to  help  thee;  go  on, 
go  on." 

She  said  that  in  the  light  that  shone  with  these 
words  she  was  in  an  ecstasy,  in  which  she  wished 
she  could  remain  forever,  and  as  she  told  of  it 
there  was  such  a  look  of  heavenly  beauty  upon 
her  face  that  the  witnesses  said  they  could  never 
forget  nor  deny. 

But  the  official  staff  managing  the  military  cam- 
paign would  not  be  moved  from  their  plan,  and 
the  best  that  even  the  King  felt  able  to  accomplish 
was  that  the  Maid  of  Orleans  should  accompany 
them.  Laying  aside  her  own  feelings,  she  ac- 
cepted the  preparations  made  for  her,  and  with 
all  her  old  spirit  of  enthusiasm  fared  forth  on  a 


PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KING    119 

task  which  she  did  not  regard  as  in  any  sense  ad- 
visable or  within  her  call  from  God. 


3.    A  Godless  Task  to  Satisfy  the  Will  of  Men 

A  month  after  Joan  had  left  Orleans,  she  re- 
turned to  make  it  her  headquarters  during  the 
process  of  driving  the  English  out  of  the  many 
small  garrisons  dotting  the  regions  along  the 
Loire. 

Soldiers,  citizens  and  peasants  all  met  her  as  a 
saint  sent  them  directly  out  of  heaven  to  be  their 
deliverer  and  guide.  Their  reverence  she  always 
took  not  to  herself  but  to  her  mission.  Her  chap- 
lains and  confessors  all  testify  that  she  always 
said  everything  was  for  her  ministry.  She  al- 
ways declared  that  she  had  not  come  to  show  signs 
nor  to  do  miracles.  She  had  to  have  means  to  ac- 
complish purposes  and  reach  ends.  Her  Lord 
merely  showed  her  purposes  and  ends,  and  un- 
wearyingly  she  toiled  and  toiled  till  she  had  ful- 
filled the  will  of  her  Lord.  All  the  bitter  dregs 
that  men  emptied  into  her  cup  she  drank  in  un- 
broken silence.  But  her  success  in  great  things 
caused  the  people  to  demand  success,  even  as  a 
sign  in  the  endless  procession  of  little  things.  The 
demands  upon  her  as  having  strength  from  God 
for  anything  was  cruel  beyond  description.  As 
she  could  do  anything,  she  must  do  everything. 
She  must  cure  every  ill,  banish  every  discomfort 
and  restore  paradise  for  every  man,  woman  and 


120 JOAN  OF  ARC 

child.  To  do  less,  was  to  be  an  enemy.  If  she 
could  not  do  everything  for  them  her  powers  were 
faulty  and  if  they  were  faulty  they  could  not  be  of 
God.  If  they  were  not  of  God,  from  whence  came 
they  but  from  hell,  and  what  of  such  a  woman,  if 
not  worse  than  the  vilest  denunciations  of  the 
English.  Such  is  the  logical  mind  of  selfishness, 
however  plausibly  it  reasons,  when  demanding 
every  meaning  to  be  realized  in  all  forms  that  can 
be  manipulated  by  will  for  personal  benefits.  It 
reveals  the  anarchist,  who  thus  reasons  that  right- 
eousness should  lay  all  values  at  his  feet  or  else 
every  such  system  is  his  enemy. 

What  happened  to  La  Pucelle,  happens  to  every 
beauty  and  to  every  good  and  to  every  truth, 
where  will  comes  in  to  use  the  machinery  of  logic 
for  the  mastery  of  the  way.  Jeanne  d'Arc  treated 
the  adulation  of  the  throngs  crowding  about  her 
always  with  the  high  spirit  of  a  religious  guide. 
" Trust  in  God  and  strive  to  do  his  Will,"  was  her 
constantly  repeated  admonition. 

She  was  the  master  of  consistency  in  all  her 
diplomatic  or  military  affairs,  and  all  the  cap- 
tains testify  that  she  had  no  equal  in  organizing 
troops  into  battle  array. 

Her  negotiations  with  the  Duke  of  Brittany  to 
renew  his  allegiance  to  the  King,  and  her  success 
in  re-uniting  the  alienated  fragments  of  France, 
shows  the  highest  and  best  forms  of  statesman- 
ship. Princes  and  noblemen  began  to  turn  from 
their  hostile  attitudes  toward  Charles*  reign,  and 


CHARLES  VII  (1403-1461) 


PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KING    121 

the  whole  fabric  of  intrigue  against  France  began 
rapidly  to  go  to  pieces. 

4.    The  Hour  Is  Always  Now  for  the  Will  of  God 

In  the  afternoon  on  Saturday,  June  11,  1429, 
the  Maid  rode  out  of  Orleans  with  her  army  on 
a  self-imposed  task  to  drive  the  English  from  their 
strongholds  along  the  Loire.  The  Armagnac 
military  leaders  heard  of  heavy  reinforcements 
coming  to  the  English  and  they  became  afraid. 
The  council  was  soon  involved  in  a  quarrel,  fast 
becoming  desperate,  when  La  Pucelle  appeared 
among  them  in  great  indignation,  declaring  that 
the  Lord  was  guiding  their  way  and  that  if  it  were 
not  so  she  would  be  back  in  Domremy  guarding 
her  sheep.  Shamed  out  of  their  quarrel,  they  be- 
came reconciled  and  went  on  to  the  assault  of  the 
town  and  the  stronghold  of  Jergeau.  A  detach- 
ment went  on  ahead  to  capture  the  outside  part 
of  the  town  so  that  the  soldiers  could  sleep  in  the 
houses.  As  Jeanne  came  up,  she  met  the  soldiers 
returning.  They  had  been  defeated  and  driven 
back.  Taking  up  her  standard  she  cried  out  for 
them  to  come  on  where  she  led,  and,  as  she  ap- 
proached the  English  fled,  leaving  that  part  of  the 
town  to  the  unmolested  use  of  the  French. 

On  Monday  morning  at  dawn  the  French  artil- 
lery began  to  batter  down  the  walls.  By  nine 
o  'clock  an  opening  had  been  made,  and  the  trum- 
pets pealed  forth  the  order  to  assault.  In  front 


122 JOAN  OF  ARC 

of  the  surging  mass  of  soldiers  came  the  Stand- 
ard of  the  Maid.  The  Duke  of  Alengon  had  not 
yet  given  the  order  to  rush  the  breach  in  the  walls. 

"Forward,  gentle  Duke,"  she  cried,  "on  to  the 
assault." 

"It  is  not  yet  the  time,"  he  called  out  to  her. 

"Doubt  not,"  she  responded.  "The  time  is 
when  it  pleases  God  and  he  wills  this  hour." 

The  soldiers  heard  and  swept  in  after  the 
Standard  of  the  Angelic  Maid. 

"Ah,  gentle  Duke!"  she  cried  back  at  him, 
laughing  in  a  mocking  way.  * '  Art  afraid !  Have 
I  not  promised  thy  good  wife  to  send  thee  back 
to  her  safe  and  sound!" 

The  Duke  hesitated  no  longer  but  ordered  the 
grand  assault. 

The  banner  never  faltered  but  moved  ever  in 
the  hottest  of  the  fight  and  wherever  it  went  the 
English  fell  away  from  it  and  victory  went  with 
it  like  waves  of  the  sea. 

She  had  been  wounded  severely  in  the  foot,  but 
it  never  delayed  her  for  a  moment.  As  she  mount- 
ed a  ladder  to  scale  the  walls  with  her  banner,  a 
stone  from  the  walls  struck  her  standard  and  was 
dashed  into  fragments  on  her  armor.  It  struck 
her  down,  but  she  rose  with  her  banner,  crying, 
"Friends,  cheer  up!  Cheer  up,  comrades!  The 
day  is  ours !  Come  on !  Come  on ! " 

Somehow  the  Angelic  Maid  grows  in  the  mind 
as  a  symbol  of  womanhood  leading  humanity  to 
the  fulfillment  of  courage  and  power,  clearing 


PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KING    123 

wrong  from  the  world.  If  not  in  war-like  form, 
it  has  been  so  from  the  days  when  motherhood 
teaches  the  feeble  steps,  and  the  hours  when 
mother  encourages  the  infant  mind  to  grasp  the 
meaning  of  the  world. 

Jergeau  was  mastered  with  all  the  fury  and 
passion  of  war.  Not  so  with  Jeanne  d'Arc.  She 
protected  the  prisoners  and  her  first  care  was 
to  see  that  they  should  not  suffer  from  the  en- 
raged people. 

Within  two  weeks  the  valley  of  the  Loire  was 
cleared  of  its  enemies. 


5.    Overcoming  the  Enemy  on  the  Way  to  Rheims 

Jeanne  rested  two  nights  in  Orleans,  most  of 
the  time  in  the  cathedral,  at  the  foot  of  the  altar, 
in  silent  prayer.  And  now  there  was  not  a  single 
general  who  dared  deny  that  she  was  a  leader  su- 
perior in  military  strategy  and  foresight  to  them 
all. 

Tuesday  evening  she  summoned  to  her  the  Duke 
of  Alengon. 

"To-morrow,  after  dinner/'  she  announced  to 
him,  "we  go  to  Meun." 

At  that  town  was  a  strongly  fortified  garrison 
and  its  subjugation  meant  that  the  way  was  now 
being  opened  toward  the  final  goal  of  all  her  tasks, 
the  way  to  Eheims. 

True  to  her  plans,  her  army  reached  Meun  in 
due  time.  The  English  fled  from  the  town  and 


124, JOAN  OF  ARC 

took  refuge  in  the  fortress.  She  took  possession 
and  bade  the  soldiers  to  be  at  ease  till  morning. 

The  next  morning  Alengon  heard  that  Consta- 
ble de  Richemont  was  marching  to  join  them  with 
several  famous  knights  who  had  joined  their  for- 
tunes with  him.  The  Constable  was  in  strong  dis- 
favor from  the  King,  because  of  much  antagon- 
ism, if  not  disloyalty,  and  the  King  had  forbid- 
den Alengon  from  receiving  Richemont  or  his  sup- 
port in  the  royal  army.  Alenc.on  was  personally 
very  bitter  toward  Constable  de  Richemont  and 
he  told  La  Pucelle  that  if  she  received  the  Con- 
stable, he  would  withdraw  from  the  army. 

The  King  in  conferring  authority  upon  Jeanne 
had  among  the  specified  rights  at  her  request  com- 
mitted to  her  the  power  to  pardon  offenses  done 
against  him  and  his  kingdom. 

Lu  Pucelle  reminded  Alengon  that  if  she  par- 
doned de  Richemont  he  would  be  on  equality  with 
Alengon  both  as  to  person  and  as  to  the  King's 
service,  in  which  state  of  affairs  Alen§on  would 
have  no  excuse  to  leave  that  would  not  be  treason. 

In  any  estimate  of  the  character  and  career  of 
this  strange  girl,  such  foresight  and  firmness  have 
much  significance  in  her  history. 

When  the  Constable  met  her  on  Friday  evening, 
she  received  him  cordially  on  her  own  responsi- 
bility. She  told  him  that  she  would  receive  him 
free  from  all  disfavor  from  the  King  or  any  one 
in  authority,  if  he  would  take  oath  of  life  loyalty 
to  his  lawful  sovereign.  This  he  was  glad  to  do 


PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KING    125 

and  thus  the  last  important  faction  disrupting 
France  was  closed. 

Meanwhile,  a  panic  had  seized  the  English  in 
the  fortress.  They  begged  for  a  council  of  sur- 
render. This  was  agreed  to  and,  according  to  the 
terms  arranged,  on  the  next  morning,  the  garri- 
son disarmed,  filed  across  the  bridge,  leaving 
everything  behind  but  their  personal  effects. 

6.    The  Fortunes  of  War 

Hardly  had  the  last  English  soldier  disappeared 
over  the  bridge,  when  a  messenger  arrived  with 
news  that  a  force  much  larger  than  that  of  the 
French  was  approaching  to  relieve  the  fortress. 
The  French  officers  did  not  believe  they  could  hold 
the  town  against  the  superior  force  and  equip- 
ment of  the  enemy.  They  advised  immediate  re- 
treat. 

"By  my  Martin-baton,  No!"  cried  Jeanne,  who 
wanted  battle  in  the  open  fields.  "God  is  sending 
them  to  us  for  defeat.  The  King  shall  to-day 
have  the  greatest  of  all  his  victories." 

The  trumpets  were  ordered  to  sound  the  call  to 
battle.  In  swift  march,  they  hastened  to  meet  the 
enemy.  Presently  they  came  upon  the  English 
drawn  up  in  battle  line  near  the  village  of  Patay 
in  an  advantageous  position. 

"There  are  the  English,"  Alengon  said  to  the 
Maid.  "Dare  we  fight  them?" 

Dunois  and  Bichemont  came  up. 


126 JOAN  OF  ARC 

She  suddenly  enquired,  "Have  you  all  good 
spurs?" 

"What!"  cried  the  Duke,  "Are  we  to  be  de- 
feated? Shall  we  turn  and  run?" 

"Nay!  Nay!"  she  replied,  "but  the  enemy  is 
about  to  flee.  They  will  not  stop  and  you  must 
have  spurs  to  chase  them." 

Plans  were  therefore  laid  not  only  for  battle 
but  for  pursuit.  This  proved  to  be  a  most  re- 
markable provision  for  victory. 

It  was  hardly  a  battle.  Where  the  standard  of 
La  Pucelle  waved  the  battle  became  a  rout  and 
then  a  desperate  flight.  But  they  could  not  es- 
cape the  horsemen  prepared  for  the  pursuit.  The 
cavalry  spurred  on  ahead  of  the  fugitives  and 
turned  them  back  to  the  slaughter,  till  half  were 
scattered  over  the  fields,  wounded  or  dead. 

Sir  John  Falstaff,  the  hero  and  knight  of  the 
garter,  made  famous  by  Shakespeare,  broke 
through  and  fled  madly  on  to  Yenville,  where  the 
people  refused  him  and  his  associates  an  entrance, 
and  he  fled  on  and  on  till  he  was  safe  within  the 
walls  of  Corbeil.  But  nothing  he  could  say  about 
the  sorcery  of  the  witch-maid  availed  and  he  lost 
his  knighthood  on  the  charge  of  cowardice. 

In  the  battle  of  Patay  was  completely  destroyed 
the  really  splendid  army  brought  over  by  the  Earl 
of  Salisbury  to  complete  the  conquest  of  France. 

It  was  a  wonderful  consummation,  not  open  to 
any  commonplace  explanation,  when  the  Lords, 
Earls  and  Knights  stood  captive  the  next  morn- 


PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KING    127 

ing  before  the  Maid,  who  had  dictated  to  a  pro- 
fessor at  Poitiers,  the  summons  commanding  them 
to  depart  from  Orleans  and  leave  the  soil  of 
France.  It  was  all  beyond  their  comprehension 
as  it  is  ours.  Talbot  answered  for  them  all,  and 
no  more  practical  explanation  has  ever  since  been 
given  them,  when  he  replied  to  their  questions, 
"It  is  the  fortune  of  war.'7 


7.    Favorites  of  the  King 

La  Pucelle  was  all  womanly  compassion  for 
every  one  suffering  who  was  not  receiving  that 
suffering  in  an  act  of  violence  against  the  rights 
of  France.  That  was  the  crime  worthy  of  what- 
ever punishment  that  might  befall.  As  she  rode 
back  from  the  battlefield  of  Patay,  she  saw  a 
French  soldier  driving  forward  some  prisoners, 
one  of  whom  was  wounded  unto  death.  In  the 
great  pity  of  her  soul  she  sprang  from  her  horse, 
rebuking  the  cruel  soldier.  As  the  wounded  man 
sunk  down  she  knelt  by  his  side,  ministering  ten- 
derly for  him  as  a  mother.  He  asked  for  a  priest 
and  she  had  one  brought  forthwith  to  them.  She 
took  the  dying  man 's  head  in  her  arms  and  weep- 
ing over  him,  comforted  him  till  he  died.  He 
looked  into  her  pitying  eyes  and  it  is  said  that  he 
saw  angels  coming  to  take  him  away  from  the 
world  of  violence  and  blood. 

That  she  loved  the  humble  and  the  poor  is  well 
attested  in  the  depositions  of  Dunois.  He  says 


128 JOAN  OF  ARC 

that,  as  she  rode  by  his  side,  through  crowds  of 
grateful  people,  blessed  if  they  could  touch  her 
garments,  happy  if  they  could  kneel  upon  the 
earth  where  her  horse  had  trod,  she  said,  "In  the 
name  of  God,  behold  how  good  and  devoted  are 
these  poor  people.  There  are  none  others  to  com- 
pare with  them." 

The  Angelic  Maid  was  a  soul  of  infinite  sympa- 
thy supreme  as  the  motherhood  of  humanity. 

In  a  week  the  Wonderful  Woman  had  freed  the 
hopelessly  beleagured  city  of  Orleans ;  in  another 
week  she  cleared  the  Loire  valley  of  the  numer- 
ously garrisoned  enemy,  and  she  wanted  to  go  on 
at  once  to  the  coronation  as  the  end  of  her  mis- 
sion. Then  she  could  go  back  to  her  flocks  in  the 
peaceful  fields  of  Domremy.  But  the  coronation 
that  Charles  most  desired  was  ease.  He  was  born 
to  be  ministered  unto.  Though  he  was  grateful 
to  this  strange  and  unaccountable  girl,  it  was  no 
more  than  he  should  expect  from  his  subjects, 
whatever  their  talents,  gifts  or  powers.  Natural- 
ly, anything  they  possessed  from  God  on  down  to 
taxes  and  service  should  be  his. 

The  King  showered  compliments  on  her  and  lis- 
tened to  the  usual  advisers  suitable  to  a  King,  the 
envious  favorite  Tremouville  and  the  archbishop 
of  Eheims. 

The  King's  favorites  were  already  preparing 
her  crown  of  thorns.  They  were  already  shaping 
the  road  to  the  martyr's  stake. 

All  the  energy  she  once  used  striving  to  be 


PEACE  OF  A  PACIFIST  KING    129 

heard,  she  now  used   striving  to  organize  her 
means  for  the  last  of  her  tasks. 

The  King  advised  her  to  rest.  She  declared 
that  she  could  not  rest.  The  peace  she  had  made 
between  the  King  and  those  who  were  unfriendly 
to  him  was  broken  by  the  renewal  of  envious  an- 
tagonisms. But  the  humble  people  of  France  were 
wild  to  follow  where  she  led.  They  came  from 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom  only  to  find  delay  and  un- 
certainty. It  seems  that  the  King  himself  was 
envious  of  the  interest  of  the  people.  He  discour- 
aged them  in  every  way  that  could  be  devised. 
The  King's  favorites  tried  to  have  her  sent  off  to 
the  conquest  of  Normandy.  They  said  that  the 
French  army  could  not  yet  get  through  to  Eheims. 
The  enemy  was  too  strongly  garrisoned  along  the 
way. 

8.    None  So  Blind  as  Those  Who  Will  Not  See 

Jean,  her  second  brother,  arrived  from  Dom- 
remy,  in  the  midst  of  her  endeavors  to  have  the 
King  move  on  to  Rheims.  She  loved  him  dearly 
and  inquired  with  deep  interest  about  her  rela- 
tives and  the  people  of  Lorraine. 

One  thing  he  told  her  that  caused  her  many 
tears  and  for  which  she  gave  many  prayers.  He 
told  her  that  back  at  home  they  believed  her  power 
began  under  the  Fairy  Tree,  known  as  Beautiful 
May.  It  was  the  superstition  of  the  peasantry 
and  they  did  not  know  it  would  do  her  harm. 


130 JOAN  OF  ARC 

There  were  two  accusations  which  always  made 
her  scream  with  pain.  One  was  any  question  of 
her  chastity  and  the  other  any  suggestion  that  her 
power  or  mission  was  from  any  other  source  than 
God. 

* ' What ! ' '  she  cried  in  consternation.  "Do  they 
believe  back  at  home  as  the  English  believe  that 
my  love  for  King  and  country  is  not  of  God ! ' ' 

Alas!  for  humanity!  She  was  soon  to  learn 
how  little  that  King  and  country  lived  in  the  name 
of  her  Lord ! 

At  last  La  Pucelle,  seeing  that  she  could  not  en- 
courage the  King  against  his  advisers,  encamped 
in  the  field  before  his  castle  with  her  followers, 
who  were  paying  their  own  expenses  with  their 
scanty  means,  there  awaiting  his  feeble  decision 
to  come  on  to  the  coronation.  But  he  came  not. 
The  King's  favorites  wanted  to  have  all  the  glory 
of  this  final  act.  The  Angelic  Girl  of  the  "Won- 
derful Faith  was  like  a  fawn  in  the  midst  of 
wolves.  Her  God  and  her  Lord  of  Eight  were 
nothing  but  scornful  jests  to  them. 

Then  Jeanne  started  alone  for  the  advanced 
camps  of  their  army,  to  clear  the  way,  for  the 
King  to  Eheims.  This  courage  shamed  him  and 
the  next  morning  he  followed  her. 

Town  after  town  surrendered  along  the  way  and 
supplied  the  army  with  food  until  they  came  to 
Troyes,  where  the  English  and  Burgundians  gath- 
ered their  strength  to  block  her  advance. 

For  five  days  the  French  army,  and  a  host  that 


had  flocked  to  the  standard  of  the  Angelic  Maid, 
lay  in  the  fields  around  Troyes,  with  nothing  to 
eat  but  beans. 

The  wonderful  thing  about  this  was  that  a 
strange  personage  named  Brother  Richard,  pos- 
sessed of  the  most  fiery  eloquence  and  zeal,  had 
appeared  there  during  the  season  of  planting 
time,  with  the  strange  order  from  heaven  that  the 
people  plant  beans.  There  was  no  reason  that 
any  one  knew  for  planting  beans,  but  the  peas- 
ants did  it,  and  without  that  harvest  of  beans, 
now  ready,  La  Pucelle's  army  of  Coronation 
would  have  been  compelled  to  disperse  from  be- 
fore Troyes  and  abandon  the  attempt.  The 
Maid's  mission  would  have  failed  and  the  justifi- 
cation of  all  her  sacrifice  and  labor  would  have 
been  lost. 

La  Pucelle  was  exclusively  practical.  She  de- 
nied all  miracle.  But  her  followers  believed  she 
could  do  anything.  She  had  only  to  speak  to  her 
Lord  and  there  would  be  abundance.  She  had 
only  to  wave  her  banner  in  the  name  of  God  and 
the  enemy  would  become  panic-stricken  and  pow- 
erless. The  incompetence  of  ignorance  always 
fails  in  the  process  of  faith  and  supplies  the 
means  of  conquest  to  the  wills  of  despotism. 

9.  When  Will  Gives  Way  to  Faith. 

•But  if  ever  an  uncouth,  unequipped  army 
looked  hopeless,  this  one  was  now  so.  They  were 


132 JOAN  OF  ARC 

destitute  in  the  heart  of  the  enemies'  possessions. 
All  around  them  were  fortified  cities.  They  were 
not  more  than  half  fed  and  soon  found  themselves 
with  less  than  a  day's  supply  of  their  meager 
food.  The  officers  were  not  only  in  doubt  but  in 
revolt  against  the  folly  of  trusting  to  a  girl  to  lead 
an  army. 

The  Archbishop  of  Rheims  declared  to  the  coun- 
cil, called  by  the  King,  that  only  a  miracle  could 
save  the  army  from  famine,  the  city  could  not  be 
taken  without  artillery,  and  it  did  not  seem  pos- 
sible that  the  minds  of  the  English  commanders 
could  be  changed,  as  they  paid  no  attention  to  the 
summons  of  the  Maid.  All  the  counselors  in  their 
turn  spoke  to  the  King,  advising  him  that  nothing 
but  retreat  could  save  them,  as  there  was  no  help 
short  of  several  days'  journey. 

Then  Eobert  le  Me§on  spoke.  He  was  one  of 
the  three  who  had  heard  Jeanne  at  Loches  tell  the 
King  about  her  Voices.  He  reminded  the  King 
that  the  expedition  had  not  been  undertaken 
through  reliance  upon  the  military  power  of  their 
soldiers.  It  could  never  have  been  thought  of  on 
such  grounds.  It  was  undertaken  upon  the  help 
God  was  giving  to  the  Angelic  Maid,  and  she 
should  be  sent  for  that  they  might  hear  what  she 
had  to  say. 

This  appealed  to  the  King's  conscience  and  he 
decided  to  send  for  her.  Faith  in  the  power  of 
righteousness  and  the  estimate  of  possibilities  in 
the  struggle  of  wills  were  again  on  trial. 


CHAPTER 
A  DIVINE  CROWN  AND  THE  ROYAL  HEAD 

1.  The  King  Reluctantly   Patronismg   Another 

Power 

MEN  of  might  relying  upon  will  usually  seek  di- 
vine power  only  as  a  substitute  for  avoiding  fail- 
ure. So  long  as  there  is  any  chance  of  winning 
by  their  own  will,  they  dislike  the  restraints  im- 
posed by  the  interference  even  of  a  temporary 
substitute. 

Joan  of  Arc  must  have  felt  that  kind  of  con- 
tempt for  the  weakness  of  Kings,  when  she  came 
into  the  royal  presence  of  this  man  who  was  of 
the  most  corrupt  origin  and  from  the  most  trea- 
sonable political  system  in  Europe.  Could  a  di- 
vine mission  be  given  to  such  a  man!  But  she 
doubtlessly  believed  that  her  responsibility  so 
marvelously  proven  to  be  divine  would  be  no  less 
imposing  and  compelling  when  thus  conferred 
upon  him.  A  consciousness  of  their  belittling  con- 
descension must  have  weighed  heavy  upon  her  as 
she  came  into  the  council  hall  before  these  un- 
worthy men. 

She  came  in  with  stately  bearing  as  one  having 
authority  above  the  wills  of  men.  She  made  her 

133 


134 JOAN  OF  ARC 

respectful  salute  to  the  King.  Then  she  turned  to 
the  Archbishop  with  a  motion  for  him  to  proceed 
with  what  he  had  to  say. 

The  Archbishop  spoke  at  length,  covering  all 
the  reasons  that  had  been  given  why  the  army 
should  save  itself  while  it  could  do  so  in  retreat. 

She  then  turned  to  Charles  and  asked  him  if  he 
would  believe  her  if  she  spoke  her  mind.  He  re- 
plied that  he  would  surely  believe  anything  rea- 
sonable. 

"Gentle  Dauphin,"  she  replied,  "if  you  will 
stay  two  days  longer  before  Troyes,  the  city  shall 
be  yours." 

"Jeanne,*'  interposed  the  Archbishop,  "we 
would  gladly  promise  to  stay  thrice  so  long,  if  it 
could  be  reasonable  that  we  could  have  it." 

"Then  never  fear,"  replied  the  Maid;  "you 
shall  have  it  to-morrow." 

The  fervor  of  the  inspired  warrior  may  be  felt 
in  the  words  Theodosia  Garrison  has  her  say  for 
the  freedom  of  France: 

"And  angels  militant  shall  fling  the  gates  of  Heaven  wide, 
And  souls  new-dead  whose  lives  were  shed  like  leaves  on  war's 

red  tide 
Shall  cross  their  swords  above  our  heads  and  cheer  us  as  we 

ride. 

"For  with  me  goes  that  soldier  saint,  Saint  Michael  of  the 

sword, 

And  I  shall  ride  on  his  right  side,  a  page  beside  his  lord, 
And  men  shall  follow  like  swift  blades  to  reap  a  sure  re- 
ward. 


\          A  DIVINE  CROWN 135 

"Grant  that  I  answer  this  my  call,  yea,  though  the  end  may  be 
The  naked  shame,  the  biting  flame,  the  last,  long  agony; 
I  would  go  singing  down  that  road  where  faggots  wait  for 
me." 

The  King  and  his  advisers  quickly  agreed  that 
she  should  take  charge  and  have  another  day.  It 
was  to  be  a  great  day  for  France. 

Jeanne  ran  out  of  the  house,  mounted  her  horse 
and  was  away  to  the  camp.  With  her  Martin-ba- 
ton she  pointed  out  the  work  for  the  captains, 
knights,  squires  and  soldiers  to  do.  They  made 
bundles  of  small  limbs  from  the  trees  with  which 
to  fill  the  moat ;  they  brought  parts  of  frames  from 
houses  torn  down  from  which  to  bridge  the  mire 
of  the  ditch.  Some  mounted  the  culverins  and 
bombards ;  others  prepared  ladders  and  gathered 
material  at  convenient  places  for  assault.  They 
could  work  when  they  believed  and  they  could 
fight  in  the  greater  faith.  Jeanne  worked  the 
whole  night  through  and  aroused  the  same  zeal  in 
her  men.  Dunois  said  that  she  did  as  much  as  any 
three  captains. 

It  was  from  these  scenes  that  several  of  her 
hard-minded  warriors,  in  testimony  concerning 
her  as  a  soldier,  said,  that  in  the  art  of  war,  in 
the  plannings  of  battle  and  leading  soldiers  in  as- 
sault, "she  bore  herself  like  the  most  skillful  cap- 
tain in  the  world,"  this  child  fresh  from  the  pas- 
ture-fields of  Lorraine,  who  had  power  and  in- 
spired power  in  the  name  of  humanity  and  God. 


136 JOAN  OF  ARC       

2.  Brother  Richard  and  His  Assurance 

The  English  soldiers  within  the  besieged  city 
saw  these  preparations.  They  saw  the  Maid  all 
through  that  momentous  day,  and,  when  darkness 
came,  her  torches  showed  her  tireless  work 
through  the  whole  night  long.  The  enemy  saw 
feebleness  change  to  power.  The  defeated  were 
working  like  men  sure  of  victory.  The  people 
could  not  sleep,  they  nocked  to  the  cathedrals  to 
pray.  Many  of  them  ran  wild  through  the  streets 
crying  that  the  day  of  judgment  had  come.  That 
strange  fanatic  known  as  Brother  Richard  was 
there.  He  went  about  whispering  counsel  that 
their  souls  must  be  prepared  for  the  day  of  God 
that  was  coming  with  the  next  sunrise. 

The  exploits  of  the  Maid,  when  she  came  wav- 
ing her  holy, banner,  were  told  with  trembling 
lips  with  a  meaning  never  felt  before.  Even  the 
solid  stone  walls  could  not  stand  before  the  mighty 
waves  set  in  motion  from  her  hands. 

Possibly  she  was  from  God.  If  so,  who  could 
stand  before  her ! 

Brother  Eichard  warned  them  that  if  she  were 
from  God  it  would  not  only  be  death  but  damna- 
tion to  oppose  her.  If  she  was  of  the  devil,  their 
miserable  death  at  her  hands  could  hardly  be 
worse.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  man  of 
strangely  true  intuitions,  was  preparing  the  psy- 
chological way  for  the  victory  of  the  Wonderful 
Woman. 


A  DIVINE  CROWN 137 

The  people  did  not  wait  for  the  military  com- 
manders. At  dawn  they  sent  Brother  Richard 
out  through  the  gates  with  a  vessel  of  holy  water 
to  ask  her  if  it  were  indeed  truth  that  she  came 
from  God. 

The  priest  came  into  the  presence  of  the  An- 
gelic Maid  with  great  caution.  He  solemnly 
sprinkled  the  holy  water  upon  the  ground  before 
him  to  purify  his  steps,  he  signed  himself  with 
the  cross  so  that  no  devilish  influence  could  touch 
him,  and  then  he  threw  the  holy  drops  into  the 
space  between  them  so  that  there  could  be  no  dev- 
ils of  the  air  to  mar  their  conference.  But  Jeanne 
had  no  superstitions.  She  had  no  fear  of  holy 
water.  * '  Come  on  boldly, ' '  she  cried,  laughing  at 
his  grotesque  gestures  of  fear.  "I  shall  not  fly 
away. ' ' 

A  few  minutes'  conversation  was  all  that 
Brother  Richard  needed.  He  hastened  back  into 
the  city  and  such  was  his  report  that  the  city  lost 
not  a  moment  in  hastening  the  surrender. 

Many  of  Charles'  council  desired  to  punish  the 
city  for  its  sins  against  him,  but  Jeanne  would  al- 
low nothing  that  was  not  full  pardon  and  peace, 
as  soon  as  they  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  their 
rightful  King. 

3.  Keeping  Faith  with  the  Enemy 

Europe  had  never  achieved  anything  but  a  very 
'inconsistent  and  variable  code  of  honor.     Per- 


138 JOAN  OF  ARC 

sonal  advantage  was  the  supreme  divine  right. 
No  one  thought  of  keeping  an  oath  as  being  bind- 
ing when  it  was  unprofitable.  The  measure  of  all 
things  was  self,  while  God  was  merely  a  great  self 
magnified  into  almighty  sovereignty. 

But,  in  that  most  lawless  and  corrupt  period  of 
all  time,  this  marvelous  child  of  faith  was  so  su- 
perior to  her  age  as  to  believe  that  covenants 
should  be  kept,  and  that  righteousness  existed  be- 
tween man  and  man  only  as  it  must  be  between 
man  and  God. 

Troyes  was  overwhelmingly  convinced  by 
Brother  Eichard  that  the  Maid  was  indeed  from 
God  and  they  must  not  be  a  stumbling  block  in 
her  way.  The  English  officers  saw  at  once  that 
they  could  not  overcome  the  superstitious  fear  of 
their  own  men,  nor  withstand  the  determination 
of  the  citizens  to  surrender,  and  have  any  hope 
of  defeating  the  ever  victorious  woman.  They 
agreed  to  be  disarmed  and  to  leave  the  city,  pro- 
vided that  they  would  be  allowed  to  take  away 
with  them  their  personal  possessions.  This  was 
agreed  to  by  the  Warrior  Woman  in  the  name  of 
the  King. 

It  was  soon  learned  that  the  English  soldiers 
had  bound  their  French  prisoners  and  were  tak- 
ing them  along  as  property.  This  was  technically 
correct,  as  prisoners  were  the  profitable  spoils  of 
war.  Each  man  capturing  another  held  the  cap- 
tive for  ransom.  Word  of  what  was  happening 
was  carried  to  Joan.  "In  the  name  of  God,*'  she 


A  DIVINE  CROWN 139 

cried,  ''they  shall  not  be  taken  hence!"  But  the 
English  soldiers  claimed  that  their  treaty  of  sur- 
render included  the  right  to  take  away  their 
property. 

La  Pucelle  mounted  her  horse  in  great  indigna- 
tion and  galloped  forward  to  the  English  com- 
mander. He  likewise  insisted  that  such  was  the 
understanding  that  his  officers  had  of  the  treaty 
made  and  so  understood  by  the  French  officers. 
She  insisted  that  no  one  could  inake  a  treaty  that 
was  not  right  before  God.  But  she  believed  in 
keeping  faith  even  with  the  enemy. 

Her  conclusion  was  instantly  reached:  if  the 
King  had  allowed  such  a  treaty  of  surrender,  he 
must  pay  the  ransom.  She  hastened  back  to  the 
King.  He  told  her  that  the  English  being  un- 
armed could  not  take  away  the  prisoners  if  she 
would  not  allow  it.  She  insisted  that  no  such  vio- 
lence against  a  covenant  between  men  was  possi- 
ble and  it  was  equally  impossible  to  allow  the  pris- 
oners to  be  carried  away  into  captivity.  He  must 
pay  the  ransom  and  set  the  men  free.  And  it  was 
done.  She  soon  returned  to  the  city  with  the  pris- 
oners glorifying  her  as  their  savior.  Probably  for 
the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Kings  there  was  as- 
serted a  divine  right  greater  than  kings,  even  as 
later  on  she  was  to  pay  with  her  life  the  penalty 
for  holding  the  faith  that  the  divine  right  of  relig- 
ious conscience  is  superior  to  all  the  tribunals  or 
decrees  of  kings,  ecclesiastical  potentates,  or  or- 
ganized masters  of  church  and  state.  In  this  free- 


140 JOAN  OF  ARC 

dom  of  faith  kept  true  is  the  immortal  meaning  of 
Joan  of  Arc  for  the  American  rights  of  man  and 
the  humanity  of  the  world. 

4.  On  the  Marvelous  Way  to  the  Coronation 

About  ten  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  July  11, 
the  King  in  a  triumphal  procession  rode  into 
Troyes.  Brother  Richard  preached  one  of  his 
most  famous  sermons  to  them,  and  henceforth  was 
a  personal  follower  of  the  Wonderful  Woman. 

"God  does  not  work  for  the  idle,"  was  the 
constant  saying  of  La  Pucelle.  "Work  and  God 
will  work."  She  wanted  to  be  always  at  work  un- 
til the  completion  of  her  mission.  At  last  she  got 
them  moving  on  to  Rheims.  Town  after  town  sur- 
rendered or  fell  before  them.  It  was  a  triumphal 
procession  on  to  the  great  coronation  of  the  King. 
She  never  thought  of  it  in  any  other  way  than  the 
fulfillment  of  God's  will.  Her  religious  devotions 
were  unfailing  and  she  inspired  the  same  spirit  in 
all  around  her. 

Dunois  says  that  she  had  the  vesper  bells  rung 
half  an  hour  every  evening  wherever  she  was  be- 
cause in  them  she  could  hear  the  music  of  the 
Voices,  as  when  she  was  in  the  fields  of  Domremy. 
He  also  says  that  wherever  she  came  to  stay  all 
night  she  always  inquired  for  the  most  respectable 
woman  in  the  town,  with  whom  she  would  lodge, 
while  guards  kept  watch  on  the  outside.  He,  who 
had  been  with  her  through  so  many  victories,  was 


A  DIFINE  CROWN 141 

one  of  the  noblest  of  men,  and  none  can  doubt  his 
testimony.  He  says  that  "all  the  soldiers  held 
her  as  sacred,  and  so  well  did  she  bear  herself  in 
warfare,  in  words  and  in  deeds,  as  a  follower  of 
God,  that  no  evil  could  be  said  of  her."  Princes, 
noblemen  and  priests  all  with  the  same  respect 
only  extend  the  description  of  one  of  the  noblest 
women  ever  born  to  the  earth. 

Rheims  was  reached  with  only  the  delay  inci- 
dental to  receiving  the  surrender  of  the  towns,  and 
from  performing  the  ceremony  of  allegiance  by 
being  sworn  to  the  Dauphin  on  the  way  to  become 
King. 

Saturday  morning,  July  16,  the  Archbishop  of 
Rheims  entered  the  city  and  prepared  it  for  the 
reception  of  the  King  at  sunset.  At  the  appointed 
time,  the  triumphal  entry  was  made,  Jeanne  rid- 
ing by  the  side  of  the  King.  Her  dreams  in  the 
fields  of  Domremy  were  coming  true,  and  it  was 
surely  the  most  wonderful  dream  ever  dreamed 
by  a  little  girl.  Far  more,  as  a  testimony  to  the 
power  of  faith,  it  was  the  dream  of  the  most  won- 
derful little  girl. 

The  next  morning  at  nine  o  'clock,  Sunday,  July 
17,  the  historic  cathedral  at  Rheims  was  ready  for 
the  coronation  of  a  king.  In  that  great  historic 
hall,  now  so  torn  by  the  bombardments  of  the  in- 
vader, gorgeous  colors,  velvet  and  silver,  satin 
and  gold,  steel-pointed  spears  and  glinting  armor 
were  mingled  with  waving  streams  of  crimson  and 


142 JOAN  OF  ARC 

azure,  flowing  from  the  high  windows  and  re- 
flected from  the  many-figured  aisles. 

The  holy  oil  with  which  the  King  must  be  an- 
nointed  at  Rheims  was  of  great  historic  venera- 
tion. It  was  said  to  have  been  brought  down  in  a 
vial  from  heaven  for  the  coronation  of  Clovis.  All 
was  at  last  ready  and  the  great  day  in  the  resur- 
rection and  restoration  of  France  was  now  at 
hand. 

5.  The  Coronation 

It  was  as  if  the  impossible  had  come  to  pass. 
And  yet,  king  and  archbishop  never  believe  that 
anything  is  impossible  with  God  for  them.  Be- 
ing the  highest,  why  should  the  divine  go  any 
lower  for  the  conferring  of  favors  or  for  the  in- 
terests of  humanity !  On  them  was  the  glory  and 
honor.  But,  whatever  they  thought,  they  recog- 
nized in  Joan  an  instrument  now  proven  to  be  use- 
ful and  they  gave  her  a  prominent  place  in  the 
coronation. 

i  One  writer  describing  the  scene  says,  "Joan 
stood  beside  the  altar,  her  standard  in  her  hand. 
Her  celestial  figure,  glorified  by  the  rays  which 
shone  upon  her  through  the  stained  glass  win- 
dows, seemed  the  personification  of  the  angel  of 
France,  presiding  over  the  resurrection  of  her 
country."  Perhaps  that  gorgeous  assembly  could 
not  understand  which  was  the  great  figure  in  that 
coronation.  It  might  be  the  King  or  the  Arch- 


A  DIVINE  CROWN 143 

bishop  but  it  could  hardly  be  a  woman,  however 
strangely  God  had  looked  upon  her. 

But  the  like  of  her  had  never  been  seen  at  any 
glory  of  kings  and  never  again,  as  there  would 
never  again  be  such  times,  could  there  be  such  a 
warrior  for  the  rights  of  man  in  the  name  of  God. 

At  the  foot  of  the  great  altar,  stood  Charles  the 
Dauphin  of  France,  ready  for  the  mystic  ointment 
of  Saint  Eemi's  oil,  that  was  to  confirm  the  low- 
ering of  the  crown  of  France  upon  his  head. 

The  Maid,  clad  in  silver  mail,  holding  aloft  her 
standard  with  which  she  had  waved  victory  into 
every  fortress  and  hostile  camp  from  Blois  to 
Rheims,  stood  like  a  guardian  angel  at  the  side  of 
the  altar.  "That  banner  has  borne  the  pain,"  she 
said, ' 1  and  it  should  share  the  glory. ' ' 

Felicia  Hemans,  describing  Joan  at  the  Corona- 
tion, says, 

"Her  helm  was  raised, 

And  the  fair  face  revealed,  that  upward  gazed, 
Intensely  worshipping — a  still,  clear  face, 
Youthful  but  brightly  solemn !   Woman's  cheek 
And  brow  were  there,  in  deep  devotion  meek, 
Yet  glorified  with  inspiration's  trace 
On  its  pure  paleness;  while  enthroned  above, 
The  pictured  virgin  with  her  smile  of  love 
Seemed  bending  o'er  her  votaress." 

6.  The  Task  Completed  cmd  the  Longing  for  Home 

The  Dauphin  of  France  was  now  King  accord- 
ing to  the  ancient  ceremony  of 'coronation  used 


JOAN  OF  ARC 


since  the  time  of  Clovis.  Then  a  strange  act 
took  place  when  the  King  arose  with  the  crown 
of  France  on  his  head. 

Those  who  were  near  her  testify  that,  "When 
the  Maid  saw  the  King  had  been  consecrated  and 
crowned,  she  knelt,  weeping  as  she  clasped  his 
knees,  saying,  'Gentle  King,  now  is  accomplished 
the  will  of  God,  who  decreed  that  I  should  raise 
the  siege  of  Orleans,  and  bring  you  to  the  city  of 
Rheims,  for  your  holy  sacring.'  " 

She  wanted  the  King  to  understand  and  with 
him  all  the  people  that  she  now  considered  her 
service  at  an  end. 

"And  right  great  pity  came  upon  all  who  saw 
her,  '  '  continues  one  who  was  present,  1  1  and  many 
wept." 

Well  might  they  weep,  for  it  was  not  like  the 
age  of  Egypt  when  there  arose  men  who  knew  not 
Joseph,  because  here  there  were  men  around  her, 
in  high  places,  who  knew  not  God. 

And  now  before  the  entrance  of  the  place  where 
her  King  was  crowned,  unmolested  by  the  van- 
dalism that  ruined  the  great  Cathedral  in  the 
European  war,  stands  her  statue  with  the  sym- 
bolic standard  in  her  hands.  The  King  is  lost  in 
the  contempt  of  history,  but  the  faith  of  the  peas- 
ant girl  forever  flourishes  in  the  soul  of  humanity. 

As  she  rode  away  in  the  coronation  procession 
with  the  King,  the  people  were  shouting  and  sing- 
ing in  religious  enthusiasm  all  along  the  way. 
Jeanne  was  greatly  moved  by  their  devotion  and 


CHARLES  VII  AND  THE  MAID  OF  ORLEANS  ENTERING 

RHEIMS 
From  a  painting  about  the  year  1700 


A  DIVINE  CROWN 145 

she  said  to  the  Archbishop, '  *  When  I  die  I  should 
wish  to  be  buried  among  such  good  people.'* 

The  prelate  asked  her  how  her  mind  in  such  an 
hour  could  turn  to  thoughts  of  death. 

"I  know  not,"  she  replied.  "My  death  will 
come  as  God  pleases.  But  I  would  that  God  let 
me  return  home  to  my  sister  and  my  brothers. 
They  would  be  so  glad  to  see  me,  and  I  have  ful- 
filled the  will  of  my  Savior." 

7.  The  Task,  the  Woman  and  the  King 

Dunois,  of  Orleans,  who  knew  her  work  best,  in 
his  sworn  testimony  says,  "When  she  spoke  seri- 
ously of  the  war,  and  of  her  own  career  and  voca- 
tion, she  never  affirmed  anything  but  that  she  was 
sent  to  raise  the  siege  of  Orleans  and  to  lead  the 
King  to  Rheims  to  be  crowned." 

So,  when  she  stepped  forth  from  the  great 
throng  at  the  completion  of  the  Coronation,  and 
embraced  the  knees  of  the  crowned  monarch,  say- 
ing, ' '  Gentle  King,  now  is  the  pleasure  of  God  ful- 
filled," we  may  well  believe  it  was  like  unto  the 
cry  of  old,  "Lord,  now  lettest  Thou  Thy  servant 
depart  in  peace." 

John  Stirling,  writing  in  England  when  she  was 
still  thought  of  only  as  a  sorceress,  says  of  her 
desire  to  return  home,  at  the  completion  of  the 
coronation : 

"And  with  many  tears  implored! 
'Tis  the  sound  of  home  restored! 


146 JOAN  OF  ARC 

And  as  mounts  the  angel  show 
Gliding  with  them  she  would  go, 
But,  again  to  stoop  below, 
And,  returned  to  green  Lorraine, 
Be  a  shepherd-child  again." 

Elsewhere  in  his  poetry  he  speaks  of  her  as 
"the  most  wonderful,  exquisite  and  complete  per- 
sonage in  all  the  history  of  the  world. ' ' 

Joseph  Stephenson,  in  his  "Wars  of  the  Eng- 
lish in  France,"  says,  "Had  she  returned  home 
with  her  parents  from  the  coronation  at  Rheims, 
had  she  escaped  from  prison,  or  even  been  par- 
doned by  her  judges  .  .  .  she  would  have  become 
the  heroine  of  romance  instead  of  the  heroine  of 
history.  .  .  .  Her  death  was  her  triumph,  and 
from  the  ashes  of  her  execution-pile  at  Rouen 
arose  the  regenerative  liberty  of  France." 

After  naming  the  great  promises  of  her 
"Voices,"  he  says,  "But  for  Joan  they  had  no 
promise  to  her  save  this — that  at  the  end,  after 
a  great  victory,  they  would  take  her  home  to  Para- 
dise." 

The  illustrious  lady,  Christine  de  Pisan,  was  in 
her  old  age  an  inmate  of  the  Abbey  of  Poissy 
where  her  daughter  had  long  been  a  nun.  She 
wrote  at  that  time  of  the  triumph  at  Orleans,  a 
poem  of  five  hundred  lines  in  praise  of  the  Maid, 
in  which  she  said, 

"And  thou,  Maid  most  happy,  most  honored 
of  God,  thou  hast  loosed  the  cord  with  which 


A  DIVINE  CROWN 147 

France  was  bound.  Canst  thou  be  praised 
enough,  thou  who  hast  brought  peace  to  this 
land  laid  low  by  war?" 

In  praise  of  women  through  Jeanne,  she  said, 

' '  Honor  to  the  feminine  sex !  God  loves  her. 
A  damsel  of  sixteen  .  .  .  the  enemy  flees  before 
her.  Many  eyes  behold  it.  She  goeth  forth  cap- 
turing towns  and  castles.  She  is  the  first  cap- 
tain of  our  host.  Such  power  had  not  Hector 
or  Achilles  ...  in  heaven  shall  ye  have  reward 
and  glory,  for  whosoever  fighteth  in  a  just 
cause,  winneth  Paradise." 

But  this  really  learned  woman  proved  not  to  be 
so  good  a  prophet.  She  said,  "In  her  conquest  of 
the  Holy  Land,  she  will  tear  up  the  Saracens  like 
weeds.  .  .  .  There  shall  her  life  end." 

At  the  close  of  the  coronation  rewards  were 
freely  bestowed  upon  the  princes,  knights  and 
officers  who  had  contributed  to  the  victories  re- 
sulting in  the  crowning  of  the  King.  Then  La 
Pucelle  was  asked  what  she  wanted.  The  Heav- 
enly Maid  remembered  only  her  childhood  home. 
It  should  have  all  the  reward.  She  asked  that  the 
two  villages,  Domremy  and  Greux  should  be  for- 
ever free  from  taxation.  The  King  granted  her 
request  and  caused  it  to  be  written  as  ' '  a  favor  of 
and  at  the  request  of  our  well-beloved  Jeanne  the 
Maid,  and  for  the  great,  high,  notable  and  profit- 


148 JOAN  OF  ARC 

able  service  which  she  has  done  us,  and  does  each 
day  toward  the  recovery  of  our  kingdom.'* 

And  all  honor  be  this  much  unto  King  Charles7 
word.  Every  year  until  the  profligate  days  of 
Louis  XV,  it  was  written  over  against  the  taxes 
on  those  two  villages  in  the  tax  book:  "Nothing, 
for  the  sake  of  the  Maid." 


8.  After  the  Coronation 

Joan  of  Arc  was  now  at  the  height  of  her 
achievements  in  world  history,  but  not  yet  to  the 
greatness  of  her  wonderful  character.  The  King 
would  not  let  her  go  from  his  service.  It  seemed 
to  him  no  less  preposterous  now  that  she  should 
go  back  to  her  flocks  in  Domremy,  than  when  he 
first  saw  her  that  she  should  achieve  the  crown 
for  him  at  Rheims.  As  for  her,  if  she  must  re- 
main in  the  service  of  France,  she  could  not  be 
idle  or  lose  any  time. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  was  yet  in  open  hostil- 
ity to  the  King,  though  not  fully  in  accord  with 
the  English.  She  at  once  wrote  him  a  letter  in 
which  she  said,  "High  and  mighty  Prince,  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  Jeanne  the  Maid,  in  the  name  of  the 
King  of  Heaven,  her  rightful  and  sovereign  Lord, 
requires  that  the  King  of  France  and  you  make  a 
good,  firm  and  lasting  peace.  Forgive  each  other 
with  a  good  heart,  fully,  as  loyal  Christians  ought ; 
and,  if  you  must  fight,  go  against  the  Saracens. 
...  I  beg  and  pray  you,  with  clasped  hands,  that 


A  DIVINE  CROWN 149 

you  will  make  no  longer  war  upon  us,  you,  your 
soldiers  or  your  subjects ;  for  believe  very  surely 
that  how  many  men  soever  you  lead  against  us, 
they  shall  gain  nothing,  and  great  pity  it  will  be 
for  the  battle  and  the  bloodshed." 

Shakespeare  in  his  "Joan  of  Arc"  puts  her 
words  into  this  form: 

"See !   See  the  pining  malady  of  France. 
Behold  the  wounds,  the  most  unnatural  wounds, 
Which  thou  hast  given  her  woeful  breast ! 
Oh,  turn  thy  edged  sword  another  way; 
Strike  those  that  hurt,  and  hurt  not  those  that  help !" 

Jeanne  d'Arc  with  her  marvelous  military  in- 
sight desired  to  march  at  once  on  to  Paris,  but 
the  King  as  if  composed  of  the  ancient  traditions 
of  slow  plodding  warfare,  did  not  dare  to  order 
the  capture  of  Paris.  It  looked  like  too  big  a  task 
even  for  "the  daughter  of  the  King  of  Heaven." 
Such  swiftness  of  execution  was  too  quick  for  his 
imagination. 

The  war-council  decided  that  not  Paris  but  the 
strongholds  supporting  Paris  should  be  first  re- 
duced, and  thus  was  the  wonderful  enthusiasm  of 
her  army  to  be  wasted  on  the  outposts  instead  of 
being  led  to  a  crushing  victory  upon  the  center 
at  Paris.  Her  brilliant  military  strategy  could 
not  be  used  for  four  hundred  years,  when  Napo- 
leon used  her  swift  and  direct  methods  with 
which  to  win  some  of  the  greatest  victories  in 
history. 


150 JOAN  OF  ARC 

The  delay  gave  time  for  the  Duke  of  Bedford 
to  rush  English  troops  to  the  strengthening  of 
Paris,  and  to  bring  inducements  to  bear  on  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy  not  to  make  peace  with  Charles 
de  Valois. 

Bedford  prevailed  upon  his  uncle  Cardinal 
Beaufort  to  come  to  his  aid.  The  Cardinal  had 
already  sent  an  army  to  help  fight  down  the  Huss- 
ites in  Bohemia,  and  now  he  turned  with  pious 
zeal  to  the  task  of  the  Armagnac  witch  known 
as  Joan  of  Arc.  Bedford  needed  time  to  make 
his  preparations  to  hold  Paris,  and  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy,  now  more  and  more  being  committed 
to  the  English  Cause,  delayed  Charles  four  days 
more  at  Bheims,  on  negotiations  for  peace.  Then 
he  succeeded  in  getting  a  fifteen  days'  truce  un- 
der pretense  of  negotiating  the  surrender  of 
Paris. 

9.  The  Road  of  Treason  and  Defeat 

0 

Diplomacy  and  intrigue  had  now  taken  the  place 
of  the  Voices  of  the  Maid  in  the  Councils  of  the 
King.  The  little  she  could  get  done  was  by  sheer 
force  of  her  tireless  energy  and  will, — this  girl  of 
seventeen!  She  had  seen  her  high  noon  at 
Rheims,  but  now  her  faith  began  to  fear,  not  for 
her  cause  but  for  her  lack  of  a  cause.  Her  work 
was  now  more  for  the  glory  of  a  feeble  King  than 
for  the  good  of  the  people  or  the  interests  of  any 
heavenly  calling.  Slowly  she  felt  about  her  the 


A  DIVINE  CROWN 151 

creeping  coils  of  faithlessness  and  the  confusions 
of  insatiable  greed. 

"I  fear  nothing  but  treachery,"  were  her  sig- 
nificant words  to  Gerardin.  .  There  was  no  more 
her  heavenly  voices  in  the  vesper  bells.  The  cold 
hand  of  man's  inhumanity  to  man  was  freezing 
the  celestial  fires  in  her  soul. 

On  August  7,  1429,  Bedford  wrote  a  letter  to 
Charles  VII  in  which  the  Duke  berated  the  King 
as  one  "Who  accepted  the  help  of  superstitious 
and  reprobate  folk,  a  woman,  disorderly  and  de- 
famed, wearing  a  man's  attitude,  and  of  dissolute 
conduct,"  and  whom  he  challenged  to  combat 
"with  all  the  perjured  rascals  of  his  train." 

This  challenge  was  made  because  the  English 
and  the  Burgundian  armies  were  now  ready.  The 
slothful  King  and  his  intriguing  court  could  not 
complete  the  restoration  following  the  task  to 
which  the  Maid  had  been  inspired.  She  was  not 
now  in  the  army  according  to  her  divine  call  from 
Domremy.  Heaven  had  given  her  the  sign  of  her 
calling  and  had  closed  the  mission. 

The  challenge  to  battle  for  the  way  to  Paris  had 
its  effect  and  the  corrupted  cause  of  the  King  was 
to  be  put  to  the  test  with  an  unprepared  army. 

The  fatal  disbelief  and  slothfulness  of  the 
King's  favorites  wound  him  about  as  in  a  net  of 
indifference,  and  the  Maid  often  became  weary 
and  fell  into  the  weakness  of  tears.  She  could 
not  win  victories  with  such  unworthy  slackness  in 


152 JOAN  OF  ARC 

men.    She  might  thus  work  for  unworthy  idlers, 
but  God  would  not. 

The  English  leaders  frequently  sent  her  word 
that  if  they  could  capture  her  they  would  burn 
her  as  a  witch,  and  then  in  response  she  would 
cry  to  the  King  that  he  must  come  on  to  battle 
for  his  rights.  She  said,  "I  cry,  'Go  in  to  the 
English  and  I  shall  go  in  myself.'  " 

But  the  easy  mind  of  the  King  was  the  easy 
dupe  of  both  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  and  the  King 
of  England.  He  believed  he  was  a  great  diplomat. 
He  thought  he  could  persuade  the  Burgundians 
from  their  alliance  with  England  and  thus  force 
a  peace  without  further  battles.  "As  to  peace 
with  the  English,"  Jeanne  reiterated,  "the  only 
peace  possible  is  their  return  to  their  own  coun- 
try." 

The  stupidity  and  folly  of  the  King  is  shown 
in  his  compliance  with  everything  suggested  by 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  Charles  would  not  fight 
him  as  long  as  the  Duke  promised  anything  in  the 
name  of  peace.  Her  light  was  darkening  under 
a  sky  so  beclouded  by  selfish  wills  that  she  could 
not  see  her  way,  and  she  became  patient,  so  pa- 
thetically patient.  The  holiness  of  the  King  was 
fading  from  her  vision.  The  hour  of  betrayal 
was  at  hand,  and  she  was  no  longer  to  be  seen  at 
court  when  there  were  to  be  found  any  group  of 
the  humble  with  whom  she  could  worship. 
1  It  was  always  Jeanne  and  the  people.  Those 
in  authority  were  always  opposing  and  obstruct- 


A  DIVINE  CROWN 153 

ing.  They  were  glad  when  the  day  came  so  that 
they  could  be  rid  of  her  interference  with  their 
plans. 

The  King's  court  was  composed  of  false  court- 
iers, artful  flatterers  and  greedy  sycophants.  The 
weakness  that  could  endure  no  controversy,  was 
unable  to  organize  his  own  household,  and  could 
in  no  sense  obtain  any  rights  through  war.  The 
court  did  not  want  one  near  who  required  decency 
and  they  were  glad  to  be  rid  of  La  Pucelle.  This 
reveals  how  absolutely  essential  that  morality  is 
to  humanity,  and  that  without  its  divine  loyalty 
there  is  no  possible  meaning  for  a  social  world. 

In  the  midst  of  such  demoralization  there  could 
be  no  peace,  and  the  noblest  of  peacemakers  could 
have  no  influence  upon  such  ignoble  wills.  Autoc- 
racy and  immorality  are  both  disastrous  and  im- 
possible to  social  justice.  The  American  presi- 
dent, defining  Americanism  in  the  European  War, 
made  it  clear  that  real  Americans  "  desire  peace 
by  the  overcoming  of  evil,  by  the  defeat  once  for 
all  of  the  sinister  forces  that  interrupt  peace  and 
render  it  impossible."  As  the  vesper  bells  voiced 
divine  harmony  in  the  soul  of  the  wonderful 
woman,  so  her  life  rings  out  as  the  liberty  bell  of 
our  coming  civilization,  not  only  in  America,  and 
for  France,  but  throughout  the  world. 


CHAPTER  IX 
ON  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS 

1.  Mountains  Unapproachable  by  Faith 

MANY  of  the  Maid's  most  devoted  captains  and 
knights  had  been  taken  from  her  and  scattered 
over  detached  commands,  and  yet,  with  an  almost 
incredible  organizing  power  and  military  insight, 
she  overcame  the  delays  made  to  please  the  Duke 
of  Burgundy,  and  got  the  army  under  way  to- 
ward Paris. 

Insurmountable  as  seemed  the  obstacles  from 
Domremy  to  Rheims,  the  way  from  Rheims  to 
Paris  was  worse  from  the  unpatriotic  stupidity 
and  apathy  with  which  she  had  to  deal.  It  made 
little  difference  to  most  of  the  people  whether 
their  masters  were  English,  Burgundians  or  Ar- 
magnacs. 

On  Sunday,  August  14,  her  forces  arrived  be- 
fore the  English  fortified  about  the  village  Notre- 
Dame-des-Victoires. 

There  was  some  skirmishing  back  and  forth  be- 
fore night-fall,  but  the  real  battle  was  expected  to 
take  place  in  the  morning.  All  night  she  worked 
with  her  former  zeal  to  have  the  army  ready,  but 
the  next  morning  the  English  would  not  come  out 
to  battle.  Every  device  wras  made  to  provoke 

154 


O.V  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS       155 

them,  but  they  kept  close  behind  their  defenses. 
Then  La  Pucelle  took  her  standard  and  rode  down 
with  a  small  detachment  to  the  entrenchments, 
striking  her  standard  against  the  walls  and  dar- 
ing them  to  come  out.  But  in  vain.  At  this,  a 
retreat  was  ordered  to  deceive  the  enemy,  but  in- 
stead of  following  in  an  attack,  Bedford  withdrew 
his  men  and  marched  on  to  Paris. 

The  end  of  the  fifteen  days'  truce  came,  and 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy  sent  his  nephew,  Jean  of 
Luxembourg,  with  negotiations  for  more  delay. 
Charles,  supported  by  the  Archbishop  of  Eheims, 
pleaded  the  great  virtue  of  peaceful  means  and 
sent  a  commission  to  a  council  of  peace. 

Meanwhile,  many  towns  and  villages,  on  being 
summoned  to  surrender  by  Charles,  readily  con- 
sented, because  all  the  forces  holding  them,  by 
either  Burgundians  or  English,  were  being  with- 
drawn to  the  defense  of  Paris. 

By  August  22,  the  envoys  had  returned  from 
their  conference  with  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  un- 
able to  report  anything  accomplished.  Five  weeks 
had  now  been  trifled  away  since  the  coronation, 
which  had  been  used  by  the  Burgundians  .and  Eng- 
lish to  strengthen  themselves  against  the  royal 
army,  and  to  lessen  the  prestige  of  the  Maid. 

2.  The  Need  for  Friends  and  Also  a  Fatal  Letter 

Jeanne  could  endure  the  delay  no  longer. 
"My  beautiful  Duke/'  she  commanded  Alengon, 


156 JOAN  OF  AEC 

"get  your  men  ready  and  your  captains,  for,  by 
my  Martin-baton,  I  will  go  and  see  Paris,  nearer 
than  I  have  seen  it  yet ! ' ' 

Her  friends  among  the  officers  in  the  army  were 
yet  in  the  majority,  and  it  was  decided  to  obey 
her  orders  and  move  on  to  the  capture  of  Paris, 
even  though  they  would  be  leaving  the  King  be- 
hind, and  would  be  ending  all  his  negotiations 
with  Burgundy,  by  moving  against  Paris. 

The  army  was  drawn  up  just  ready  for  the 
order  to  start,  when  a  letter  was  brought  to  her 
from  the  Count  of  Armagnac.  She  was  in  the  act 
of  mounting  her  horse  as  the  messenger  gave  it 
to  her.  It  was  the  one  heartless,  fatal  thing 
which  her  enemies  in  the  church  were  to  use  for 
her  destruction. 

There  had  been  three  claimants  for  the  papacy 
and  three  popes  had  been  elected.  The  Count  re- 
cited these  things  in  his  letter  and  begged  her  "to 
supplicate  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  that  from  His 
infinite  mercy  He  will  declare  to  us  by  you,  which 
of  the  three  above  named  is  true  pope,  and  which 
it  will  please  Him  that  we  henceforth  obey." 

It  was  so  that,  between  the  writing  of  that  letter 
and  the  delivery  to  Jeanne,  the  church  had  settled 
its  divisions  and  Martin  V  had  won  the  decision 
as  pope,  so  as  to  be  confirmed  in  the  pontifical 
chair.  But  this  news  had  not  yet  reached  France. 

The  request  was  not  blameworthy  because  such 
had  become  the  fame  of  the  Heavenly  Maid,  be- 
yond her  own  army,  that  among  all  the  friends 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS       157 

of  France  an  old  prophecy  from  the  time  of  the 
Crusaders  was  believed  to  mean  her  and  her  mis- 
sion. To  have  the  Dauphin  crowned  King  of 
Rheims  was  only  a  beginning  of  her  great  work. 
She  was  destined  to  recover  Jerusalem  from  the 
Saracens  and  restore  the  Holy  Land  to  the  Chris- 
tians. Then,  after  establishing  the  reign  of  the 
universal  faith,  the  Daughter  of  Heaven  was  to 
die  at  the  tomb  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Her  answer  to  the  Count  of  Armagnac  was  used 
in  her  trial  to  show  that  she  assumed  to  be  greater 
than  the  Church. 

Her  associate  officers  were  impatient  for  orders 
to  advance  and  threatened  to  throw  the  messenger 
in  the  moat  for  delaying  them,  but  Jeanne  insisted 
on  replying.  She  felt  the  need  of  friends  now 
and  the  Count  of  Armagnac  should  not  be  disap- 
pointed. She  wrote  in  her  reply,  *  *  Of  this  matter 
I  can  not  well  inform  you  until  I  am  in  Paris  or 
elsewhere  at  rest.  At  present  I  am  too  busy  with 
the  war;  but  when  you  shall  hear  that  I  am  in 
Paris,  send  me  a  messenger  and  I  will  let  yon 
know  truly  which  you  ought  to  believe,  when  I 
shall  have  learned  it  by  the  counsel  of  my  right- 
ful Sovereign  Lord,  the  King  of  All  the  Earth." 

3.  The  Sordid  Minds  of  a  Royal  Court 

Charles  VII  appeared  to  be  a  King  who  was 
always  afraid  of  too  much  success.  He  was  so 
slow  to  avail  himself  of  the  Maid's  achievements 


158 JOAN  OF  ARC 

that  one  might  well  believe  he  feared  to  owe  so 
much  to  heaven  or  to  her.  Perhaps  there  were 
•unconscious  reasons  for  this  as  her  work  meant 
purity  of  purpose,  and  he,  despite  his  good  inten- 
tions, was  helplessly  involved  in  the  network  of 
intrigues  that  seemed  to  be  not  only  the  pastime 
but  the  life  of  his  favorites  in  the  court. 

Paris  was  filled  with  consternation  and  despair 
at  the  approach  of  Joan  and  her  army.  The  most 
terrifying  defamation  of  her  was  officially  dis- 
seminated. It  was  said  that  King  Charles  had 
decided  to  destroy  Paris,  to  give  the  city  over  to 
pillage  and  massacre,  to  burn  and  destroy  every- 
thing, even  to  plow  the  ground  and  sow  it  with 
salt,  as  told  of  Romans  in  the  destruction  of  Car- 
thage. The  Armagnac  witch  was  to  put  every 
one  to  torture  through  her  sorceries  and  there  was 
to  be  no  mercy  to  man,  woman  or  child  in  any 
sanctuary  or  for  any  cause.  But  falsehoods  for 
political  effects  were  not  peculiar  to  those  days. 
The  liar  for  political  or  other  treasonable  pur- 
poses is  still  with  us  to  defraud  our  rights  of 
thinking,  to  pervert  our  means  of  reasoning  and 
to  deform  the  mind  in  its  provisions  for  our  lives. 
"Who  steals  my  purse  steals  trash/'  said  Shakes- 
peare in  comparing  money  with  the  worth  of  a 
good  name,  but  the  divine  right  to  a  true  mind  is 
so  much  greater  than  all,  that  the  thief  and  the 
slanderer  are  incomparably  less  disastrous  and 
Satanic  than  the  liar.  I 

In  the  terror  of  their  impending  doom  the  peo- 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS       159 

pie  gave  up  everything  they  had.  The  churches 
yielded  all  their  treasure.  The  people  worked 
night  and  day. 

Battles  to  test  the  defenses  were  now  being 
hourly  fought  all  around  the  walls  of  Paris.  La 
Pucelle  with  her  banner  was  at  the  front  of  them 
all.  The  Duke  de  Alengon  was  usually  at  her  side. 

But  the  vigorous  ardor  with  which  she  won 
victories  for  the  unappreciative  King  lacked  the 
heavenly  fire  of  her  appearance  before  Orleans. 
The  success  of  the  King  as  the  divine  cause  of 
her  people  was  the  life  of  her  mission,  and  the 
feebleness  of  his  life  in  her  cause  began  to  make 
uncertain  the  voices  of  the  divine  way.  God  and 
France  and  the  King  were  one  idea  in  her  service. 
Nevertheless,  she  was  surrounded  with  the  most 
enthusiastic  youth,  eager  to  do  some  heroic  deed 
in  the  sight  of  the  Angelic  Maid.  But  her  Voices 
had  ceased  to  visit  her  with  their  sublime  com- 
mand, ' '  Go  on !  Daughter  of  Heaven,  go  on ! "  And 
yet  she  tried  to  be  brave  in  the  same  old  wonder- 
ful way. 

She  felt  that  she  and  her  soldiers  needed  the 
presence  of  their  King.  She  urgently  begged  him 
to  come  on  to  Saint  Denis,  and  he  promised  to  be 
there  September  2,  but  he  did  not  come. 

She  had  always  held  the  soldiers  under  the 
strictest  moral  discipline,  but  the  little  respect 
shown  her,  becoming  worse  and  worse,  from  the 
sordid  King,  court  and  prelates,  began  to  have 
its  influence  on  the  soldiers  and  moral  discipline 


160 JOAN  OF  ARC 

became  lax  beyond  her  power  to  prevent.  The 
wanton  women  that  had  been  such  a  feature  of  all 
armies,  now  appeared  among  the  men  around  her 
and  it  was  like  a  deadly  pestilence  to  her  soul. 

One  day  at  Saint  Denis  the  mistress  of  one  of 
her  officers  came  riding  by,  made  up  to  imitate  La 
Pucelle.  Worse  than  all,  the  Duke  of  AlenQon 
could  see  nothing  to  rebuke  in  it,  as  in  tears  pro- 
testing she  rode  by  his  side.  They  saw  nothing 
in  La  Pucelle  but  a  woman  warrior,  their  religious 
conception  of  her  was  only  superstition,  and  their 
minds  were  so  sordid  in  sensual  interests  that 
there  could  be  no  sensibility  for  any  real  meaning 
of  patriotism,  religion,  or  of  God. 

The  vicious  insult  was  more  than  a  blow  at  her 
womanhood, — it  was  like  a  stamp  of  evil,  placed 
by  her  own  friends  upon  all  she  had  done.  She 
drew  her  sword,  the  sacred  sword  of  Saint  Cath- 
erine de  Fierbois,  and  the  woman  rode  away  in 
terror.  Jeanne  spurred  her  horse  after  the  ab- 
horred woman  and  struck  her  across  the  shoul- 
ders with  the  flat  of  her  sword.  The  blade  broke 
in  twain,  and,  in  grief  for  the  loss  of  her  noble 
weapon,  the  Maid  thought  no  more  of  the  wanton 
woman.  She  sent  the  sword  to  the  armorer  to 
be  restored  but  they  said  it  could  not  be  done. 
Charles  heard  of  it  and  suddenly  achieved  the  en- 
ergy to  be  profoundly  if  not  righteously  indig- 
nant. He  said  that  Joan  should  have  used  a  stick 
on  the  woman  and  not  a  holy  relic  such  as  was  the 
sword  of  Saint  Catherine. 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS       161 

Her  soldiers  took  it  as  a  bad  omen.  Her  holy 
sword  had  been  broken !  Truly,  it  must  be  a  bad 
sign.  The  King,  his  court  and  all  the  priests  be- 
lieved it  to  be  so.  But  Jeanne  had  no  such  super- 
stitions of  luck.  In  its  place  she  put  on  a  finely 
jeweled  sword  which  she  herself  had  wrenched 
from  a  Burgundian  officer  in  the  midst  of  battle, 
and  she  fought  with  it  on  the  fatal  road  to  Paris 
as  valiantly  as  in  the  better  days  when  she  was 
on  the  way  to  Rheims. 

4.  Religious  Faith  and  the  Confidence  of 
Superstition 

It  soon  became  evident  to  the  Duke  of  Alenc,on 
that  the  King  must  come  to  restore  confidence. 
The  Duke  accordingly  went  after  him  and  brought 
him.  Confidence  was  at  least  superficially  re- 
stored, and  the  soldiers,  once  more  rejoicing  in 
the  old  reverence  for  the  Angelic  Maid,  declared 
to  one  another  that,  "She  will  put  the  King  in 
Paris,  even  if  it  should  all  depend  on  her  alone." 

The  day  for  the  assault  arrived  and  the  people 
of  Paris  crowded  the  churches  in  utter  despair. 
It  was  believed  by  them  to  be  their  hour  of  de- 
struction, their  day  of  doom. 

Of  all  who  suffered  in  pitiful  terror  none  were 
in  deeper  fear  than  Queen  Isabeau,  whom  history 
and  prophecy  alike  charged  with  the  ruin  of 
France.  She  was  living  in  the  worst  of  neglect 
and  degradation  under  the  charity  of  Count  Saint- 


162 JOAN  OF  ARC 

Pol.  It  is  said  that  in  dread  of  the  sorcery  of  the 
martyred  woman  who  was  to  restore  France  from 
her  betrayal,  she  killed  herself  soon  after  the 
peace  of  Arras,  and  was  thrown  into  the  moat. 

The  assault  was  begun  fearlessly  and  fiercely. 
At  two  o'clock  the  Maid  decided  to  lead  the  attack 
in  person  to  the  foot  of  the  broken  walls.  Bearing 
her  standard  aloft,  followed  by  her  bodyguard 
and  foot-soldiers,  she  crossed  the  dry  moat  and 
mounted  over  the  ridge  separating  it  from  the 
mud-moat.  There  she  handed  her  standard  to  a 
soldier  and  began  to  test  the  depth  of  the  moat 
with  her  lance.  At  that  moment  an  arrow  pierced 
the  soldier's  foot  and  he  raised  his  visor  so  he 
could  see  better  to  draw  it  out,  when  another  ar- 
row pierced  his  head,  killing  him  instantly.  She 
caught  the  standard  as  it  fell  from  his  hand,  in 
the  midst  of  a  hail  of  stones  and  arrows  falling 
all  around  her.  Heeding  none  of  these,  sh&  shook 
her  standard  at  her  assailants  on  the  walls,  cry- 
ing, "  Surrender  the  city  to  the  King  of  Heaven 
and  of  France." 

Her  men  rallied  around  her  trying  to  cross  the 
moat,  but  the  means  they  had  with  which  to  make 
it  possible  were  insufficient,  and,  as  night  came 
on,  with  the  unsolved  task  and  so  many  slain,  the 
soldiers  grew  weary  and  discouraged.  < 

She  threw  all  her  energy  and  devotion  into  the 
cause  of  laboring  on.  She  had  never  failed  be- 
fore and  she  would  not  fail  now.  But  despite  en- 
treaty and  prayer,  Eaoul  de  Gaucourt,  an  old  sol- 


Q.Y  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS       163 

dier,  who  knew  nothing  of  the  power  of  Faith  and 
Enthusiasm  as  helpers  in  fighting  battles,  ordered 
retreat  from  the  walls. 


5.  Failure 

Near  this  spot,  where  she  fought  so  valiantly 
for  the  liberation  of  Paris,  is  a  great  statue  of 
the  Maid  of  Orleans  by  Premsiet.  Paris  is  not 
the  first  nor  the  last  of  cities  to  abhor  its  saviors. 
The  intelligence  of  the  people  has  not  yet  ad- 
vanced enough  to  distinguish  reliably  between  the 
benefactors  and  the  assassins  of  individual  minds. 

It  is  quite  certain  that  the  chief  officers  and  fa- 
vorites of  the  King  were  not  sorry  to  see  her  fail. 
In  defiance  of  her  orders  they  sounded  the  retreat. 
It  was  the  death-knell  of  her  earthly  career.  How- 
ever immortal  in  human  history  and  saintly  she 
was  among  the  gods,  that  bugle  call  killed  in  her 
the  sublime  idea  of  her  faith.  God  Himself  can 
not  force,  or  at  least,  there  is  no  evidence  that  He 
ever  violates  His  own  order  to  force  righteousness 
into  unwilling  minds,  even  when  the  unwillingness 
is  the  work  of  lies  and  liars.  She  would  not  leave 
her  task  and  a  few  brave  souls  remained  with  her 
in  the  now  hopeless  conditions.  At  last  Gaucourt 
with  two  or  three  of  his  officers  went  and  seized 
her,  set  her  upon  a  horse  and  forcibly  took  her 
away. 

"By  my  Martin-baton/'  she  cried  in  despair 
and  rage,  "the  place  could  have  fallen." 


164 JOAN  OF  ARC 

She  was  taken  to  La  Chapelle  and  given  in 
charge  of  Jean  d'Aulon.  She  had  been  seriously 
wounded  in  the  thigh  by  an  arrow  but  had  given 
it  no  heed.  The  wound  was  now  dressed  and  from 
labor  that  would  have  exhausted  any  man,  if  not 
many  men,  she  was  sent  to  her  room  to  sleep. 
But  early  in  the  morning,  she  was  alive  again 
with  her  former  eagerness  to  serve  her  beloved 
France.  She  sent  for  Alengon,  entreating  him  to 
sound  the  bugles  for  another  assault  on  the  walls 
of  Paris.  Her  Voices  did  not  say  so,  but  she  knew 
of  herself  that  she  could  win  Paris  back  from 
England  to  France. 

She  had  enough  friends  to  win  her  cause  in  the 
council,  though  Gaucourt  violently  opposed  it  and 
everything  planned  by  the  Maid.  While  they 
were  discussing  whether  or  not  to  follow  the  Maid, 
there  arrived  from  Paris  the  Baron  Montmorency 
and  sixty  noblemen,  desiring  not  only  to  make 
peace  with  the  King,  but  to  join  the  army  in  an 
assault  on  Paris.  This  was  so  conclusive  of  the 
temper  of  Paris  that  they  were  about  to  decide 
for  her  when  an  order  came  from  the  King.  He 
had  heard  of  the  disastrous  failure  before  the 
walls  of  Paris,  and  he  ordered  Alengon  to  bring 
her  to  him  at  Saint  Denis. 

She  obeyed,  but  so  full  of  despairing  wrath 
that  she  determined,  when  the  retreating  army 
had  reached  Saint  Denis,  she  would  cross  the 
Seine  over  a  bridge  newly  built  there,  and  lead 
the  volunteers  of  the  army  around  to  another  at- 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS       165 

tack  on  Paris.  But  the  King  heard  of  this  plan 
and  that  night  he  caused  the  bridge  to  be  de- 
stroyed. 

6.  Her  Armor  Returned  to  St.  Denis 

The  stupidity  and  folly  of  the  King,  court  and 
captains  could  go  no  further  and  the  betrayal  of 
her  faith  could  be  no  worse.  In  these  hours  of 
distress,  her  Voices  came  back  as  guides  in  her 
personal  conduct.  She  was  forbidden  to  stay 
where  she  had  been  taken,  thus  fatally  restricted 
as  the  disturber  of  great  men's  plans,  but  despite 
all  she  could  do  or  say,  the  King  ordered  her  to 
await  his  royal  pleasure. 

Full  of  heart-breaking  despair,  she  took  the 
armor,  in  which  she  had  been  wounded  before 
Paris,  and  hung  it  up  on  a  pillar  before  the  Vir- 
gin, in  the  Abbey  church  of  Saint  Denis.  It  was 
her  cry  to  God  and  France  where  the  slogan  of 
ancient  victory  had  been  "God  and  Saint  Denis." 
She  wished  to  show  by  this  that  her  work  for  the 
King  as  the  inspired  Daughter  of  God  was  ended. 

"If  any  one  in  the  King's  command,"  said  a 
Burgundian  writer,  "had  been  as  much  of  a  man 
as  Jeanne,  Paris  would  have  been  in  the  greatest 
peril." 

Many  of  her  faithful  friends  had  gone  resent- 
fully away  from  among  her  associates,  or  had  been 
treacherously  sent  away  to  distant  work.  Her 
cause  seemed  to  be  lost  in  the  weakness  of  the 


366 JOAN  OF  ARC 

King  and  the  antagonisms  of  his  court.  "And 
thus,"  it  was  written  at  the  time  by  Percival  de 
Cagny,  "was  the  will  of  the  Maid  and  the  royal 
army  broken." 

All  fear  of  Charles  now  being  dissipated,  bri- 
gands and  skirmishers  were  let  loose  by  the  Duke 
of  Burgundy  to  pillage  the  towns  that  had  sur- 
rendered to  the  Maid,  and  all  her  work  was  being 
rapidly  undone.  Even  her  armor,  in  which  she 
had  achieved  all  her  victories  as  the  Daughter 
of  God,  was  carried  away  from  the  Abbey  church 
in  Saint  Denis  by  the  Cardinal-bishop  of  Win- 
chester. 

The  whole  country  which  had  worshiped  the 
Maid  as  their  deliverer  was  now  given  over  to 
such  merciless  pillage  and  plunder  that  not  a 
laborer  was  left  in  the  fields  and  famine  was  grip- 
ping fast  every  village  in  the  land.  La  Pucelle 
had  not  brought  them  the  deliverance  they  had 
believed  and  her  name  that  had  been  a  holy  one 
on  many  lips  now  became  accursed.  Such  were 
the  results  of  the  peace  and  the  truce  of  peace 
which  the  King  had  made  with  the  Duke  of  Bur- 
gundy. 

La  Pucelle  was  virtually  a  prisoner  in  the  King's 
care  at  Rheims,  while  he  kept  the  peace  with  his 
good  friend  the  Duke  of  Burgundy.  Many  of 
the  King's  favorites  were  in  the  pay  of  the  wily 
Duke  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  the  Duke 
had  long  been  playing  a  game  that  was  to  win 
for  himself  the  mastery  of  France, 


7.  The  Name  and  Fame  of  the  Angelic  Maid 

Persons  of  great  vision  often  neglect  little 
things  and  therefore  appear  to  be  inferior  to  those 
who  attend  ever  faithfully  to  little  things.  Thus 
is  a  prophet  without  honor  in  his  own  country. 
Jeanne  d'Arc  was  the  center  of  love,  admiration 
and  wonder  wherever  she  went.  Books  were  be- 
ing written  about  her,  she  was  preached  about  as 
a  saint,  images  of  her  were  being  carried  about 
as  a  protection  from  evil  by  all  who  could  get 
them,  and  the  King  had  a  medal  struck  in  her 
honor,  bearing  the  words,  "Sustained  by  the  coun- 
sels of  God."  Foreign  potentates  of  many  king- 
doms sent  messengers  and  delegations  to  offer 
their  respects  and  to  pay  their  homage.  The  Duke 
of  Milan  tried  to  enlist  her  interest  to  recover  his 
lost  lands.  She  was  addressed  as  "The  very  hon- 
orable and  devout  Maid,  sent  by  the  King  of 
Heaven  for  the  redemption  of  France." 

But  that  was  of  no  interest  to  the  immortal  Joan 
of  Arc.  Such  adulation  only  wearied  her.  She 
denied  it  all.  She  longed  for  her  Voices  again. 
They  were  more  to  her  than  all  the  world.  She 
required  her  chaplain  always  to  tell  her  when  he 
was  to  receive  the  children  of  the  poor,  and  she 
was  always  there  to  encourage  and  help  them. 
She  gave  all  she  had  or  could  get  to  be  distributed 
among  the  suffering.  Her  almoner  protested  that 
she  gave  too  much  and  she  replied  that  too  much 
could  not  be  given. 


168 JOAN  OF  ARC 

Jean  d'Aulon  asked  her  to  describe  the  counsel 
that  guided  her  life.  He  says  that  she  replied, 
"My  counsel  is  three;  one  voice  stays  with  me 
always,  another  goes  and  comes,  visiting  me  often, 
and  with  the  third  both  deliberate  all  three  as 
one."  In  his  comment  we  understand  that  she 
meant  by  the  first,  her  conscience,  by  the  second 
as  being  prayer,  and  that  the  third  was  God. 

Several  of  her  chroniclers,  and  no  one  in  all 
those  former  days  was  ever  so  much  written  about, 
say  that  she  never  was  alone.  There  was  always 
some  lady  with  her  of  high  character  and  spotless 
reputation.  She  never  received  any  kind  of  com- 
pany after  sunset,  and  often  some  diplomatic  vis- 
itor or  gay  young  gentlemen  of  the  court  tried  to 
win  her  favor  with  all  the  niceties  of  their  courtly 
insinuation,  but  La  Pucelle's  modest  self-posses- 
sion froze  their  impertinence  and  made  them 
ashamed  of  their  sacrilegious  ambition.  All  the 
voluminous  testimony  agrees  in  almost  every  de- 
tail of  her  life  that  she  was  ever  the  same  pure- 
minded,  generous  peasant  girl  who  listened  to  the 
heavenly  voices  and  cared  for  her  flocks  in  the 
lovely  green  fields  of  Domremy. 

No  less  marvelous  among  her  strange  inspira- 
tions and  instincts,  unless  we  concede  to  her  some 
unusual  intelligence  far  beyond  her  youth  and  ex- 
perience, she  had  none  of  the  superstitions,  not 
even  the  most  prevalent  religious  credulities  that 
were  then  flourishing  so  rankly  in  the  ignorance 
of  the  times.  Many  of  the  good  people  of  Bour- 


A  Symbolic  painting  of  LaPucelle  listening  to  her  Voices.    Made  about 
1600,  now  in  the  Cathedral  of  Rouen 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS       169 

ges  came  to  her  with  ailments  or  with  crosses  and 
chaplets  for  her  touch.  Jeanne  would  smile  at 
them  and  say,  "I  touch  because  you  ask  me,  but 
why  not  you  touch  them!  Your  touch  is  good  as 
mine." 

Some  distinguished  visitors  once  said,  "You 
have  no  fear  because  the  Lord  will  not  allow  you 
to  be  harmed." 

She  vigorously  replied,  "It  is  not  so.  My  life 
is  no  more  than  that  of  any  other  soldier  in  the 
army."  She  reminded  them  of  her  wounds  and 
that  before  going  into  battle  she  always  prepared 
to  meet  God  with  a  clean  soul. 

Joan  of  Arc  needs  no  halo  of  divinity  to  reveal 
her  clearly  as  the  most  remarkable  woman,  if  not 
even  more  than  one  of  the  noblest  that  ever  lived. 
Her  purity  and  kindness  in  the  midst  of  her  faith 
in  right  as  the  might  of  life  disclose  a  supreme 
ideal  of  womanhood. 

8.  The  Peace  of  Inaction  and  Stupidity. 

Nothing  could  be  more  deadly  to  Joan  of  Arc 
than  inaction  in  the  face  of  great  needs  for  work. 
The  various  captains  who  had  fought  under  her 
inspiration  were  sent  off  on  trivial  expeditions, 
and  they  often  tried  to  induce  the  King  to  let  La 
Pucelle  go  with  them  but  he  would  not  consent. 
At  last,  so  insistent  was  she  that  she  be  given 
some  work  to  do  to  free  France  of  its  enemies, 
that  an  expedition  was  planned  for  her  against 


170 JOAN  OF  ARC 

the  English  and  Burgundians  who  were  so  fear- 
fully oppressing  the  people  of  the  Upper  Loire. 

A  poorly  equipped  force  of  insufficient  size  and 
under  the  command  of  Sire  d' Albert,  a  brother- 
in-law  of  Tremouille,  her  enemy,  was  given  her  for 
a  winter  campaign  against  the  strongest  of  the 
enemies*  forces. 

In  due  time  her  expedition  arrived  at  Saint- 
Pierre-le-Moustier,  a  strongly  fortified  town  in  the 
Upper  Loire.  It  was  defended  by  strong  towers 
and  a  wide,  deep  moat.  La  Pucelle  had  said  she 
was  afraid  of  nothing  but  treachery.  The  Arch- 
bishop of  Rheims  and  the  powerful  favorite  Tre- 
mouille had  never  lost  a  chance,  even  the  most 
despicable,  to  hamper  her  operations,  to  weaken 
her  means,  and  to  poison  her  influence  with  the 
King.  There  had  been  treachery  at  every  step 
and  now  it  became  bold.  The  army  given  her  for 
this  heavy  task  was  small  and  in  charge  of  a  sub- 
ordinate officer  unknown  to  Joan. 

The  siege  was  begun  without  means  and  car- 
ried on  with  little  support.  The  assault  was  be- 
gun spiritedly  enough  but  almost  at  the  first  re- 
sponse from  the  garrison,  the  soldiers  fled  leaving 
Jeanne  standing  at  the  drawbridge  with  only  four 
or  five  men  near  her.  This  is  hardly  explainable 
on  any  other  theory  than  that  it  had  been  planned 
to  have  her  captured  there.  But  Jean  d'Aulon, 
her  squire,  who  was  of  her  bodyguard,  saw  her 
there  fighting  alone,  as  if  the  army  were  still  con- 
tinuing the  assault.  Though  wounded  and  sup- 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS        171 

ported  by  crutches,  seeing  her  peril,  he  mounted 
a  horse  in  the  pain  of  his  wound,  and,  furious  in 
dismay  at  this  strange  cowardice  of  the  soldiers, 
ran  his  horse  to  her  and  brought  her  off  to  a  place 
of  safety. 

But  she  would  not  have  it  so!  "I  am  not 
alone,"  she  cried.  "A  host  of  warriors  are  with 
me  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  To  work!  All  the 
world !  Bring  faggots '  and  logs  to  bridge  the 
moat!  We  will  take  the  town."  It  was  like  a 
vision  from  the  ancient  prophets  of  Israel.  Au- 
lon  says  he  looked  around  but  saw  no  one.  She 
caught  up  her  banner  and  returned  to  the  assault. 

The  retreating  soldiers  saw  her  and  saw  her 
banner  waving  toward  the  fortress.  They  forgot 
orders  to  retreat.  They  turned,  gathering  wood 
as  they  came  to  throw  into  the  moat.  The  garri- 
son on  the  ramparts,  seeing  them  returning  with 
the  Maid  in  their  midst  waving  her  banner,  be- 
came panic-stricken.  They  abandoned  the  walls 
and  fled  out  of  the  town  by  the  other  gate.  The 
Maid's  soldiers  climbed  with  her  over  the  walls 
and  the  fortress  that  was  to  be  her  doom  of  de- 
feat was  her  victory.  The  English  and  Burgun- 
dian  commanders  reported  to  their  superiors  that 
countless  numbers  of  men  appeared  suddenly 
swarming  toward  them,  and  it  seemed  as  if  the 
whole  world  was  coming  over  the  walls.  And  so 
it  was.  All  the  great,  good,  coming  world  of  social 
justice  was  alive  in  their  souls,  writing  a  revela- 
tion in  the  hope  of  man. 


172 JOAN  OF  ARC 

9.  The  Contest  Between  Treason  and  Faith 

Reginald  Thierry,  the  King's  surgeon,  being 
with  her,  wrote  that  the  hungry  soldiers  began 
to  loot  the  town.  The  soldiers  full  of  the  lust  of 
victory  and  hate  toward  the  enemy  became  rob- 
bers. Word  came  to  her  of  what  was  happening. 
She  mounted  her  horse  and  sped  down  the  street 
waving  her  banner  against  the  enemy  that  was 
despoiling  the  meaning  of  her  war.  She  stopped 
the  looters  in  the  midst  of  their  fury,  and  one  of 
the  priests  wrote  how  she  drove  the  robbers  out 
of  the  churches  where  they  had  gone  for  pillage, 
and  made  them  restore  all  the  goods. 

Jeanne  wished  to  move  on  with  her  victorious 
followers  to  other  conquests  but  La  Tremouille, 
fearful  of  his  hold  on  the  King,  and  perhaps  of 
the  rich  bribes  he  was  most  likely  receiving  from 
the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  threw  every  kind  of  a 
difficulty  in  her  way.  But  she  accepted  all  diffi- 
culties and  endeavored  to  overcome  them. 

She  wrote  letters  of  appeal  to  the  towns  she 
had  delivered  asking  for  supplies  and  munitions. 
These  letters  we  can  read  in  the  archives  of 
France.  They  do  not  have  the  old  fire  of  confi- 
dence. She  is  weary  and  her  poor  soul  is  droop- 
ing from  the  sordid  selfishness  of  those  she  is 
helping  most.  And  she  is  only  a  child  in  years. 
Her  letter  to  Riom  she  signs  with  her  own  hand, 
guided  like  a  child  by  another  who  can  write.  She 
has  never  been  taught  to  write.  She  seals  that 


ON  THE  WAY  TO  PARIS       173 

letter  in  red  wax  making  the  impression  with  her 
thumb,  and  a  dark  hair  is  still  to  be  seen,  a  pre- 
cious hair  from  the  head  of  that  Wonderful  Wo- 
man, as  happening  to  fall  under  the  wax  while  it 
was  still  soft. 

The  death-blow  to  be  given  her  had  been  marked 
by  her  enemies  for  Saint  Pierre,  but  it  failed. 
The  King's  favorites  were  so  malevolently  jealous 
of  her  that  they  meant  not  to  fail  again.  They 
tried  another  plan.  Like  many  schemes  of  the 
present  day,  they  sought  to  offer  another  "just 
as  good,"  and  so  with  a  substitute  to  belittle  her 
influence  and  kill  her  power. 

A  woman  was  brought  forward  who  claimed  to 
have  voices  of  superior  insight  to  those  of  La  Pu- 
celle.  Jeanne  went  to  see  her,  heard  her  through 
and  advised  her  to  go  back  to  her  husband  and 
children.  Brother  Richard,  the  eccentric  yet  elo- 
quent mendicant  friar,  had  become  much  im- 
pressed with  the  powers  of  divination  possessed 
by  Katherine,  and  he  had  caused  the  King  to  be 
much  impressed.  When  the  King  asked  La  Pu- 
celle  her  opinion,  she  told  him  plainly  that  such 
claims  were  folly  and  any  one  making  them  was 
an  impostor.  It  was  the  difference  between  su- 
perstition and  faith,  but  treason  could  not  see 
what  it  would  not  see,  and  the  will  of  the  court 
favorites  was  to  have  power,  not  truth. 


CHAPTER   X 
THE  VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS 

1.  Nobility  Conferred  by  an  Ignoble  Court 

ON  November  24,  1429,  Jeanne  went  with  D '  Al- 
bret,  brother-in-law  of  Tremouille,  to  the  siege  of 
La  Charite.  The  poverty  of  equipment  was  such 
as  to  make  valor  absurd.  The  Maid  tried  to  lead 
a  storming  party  but  they  were  driven  off  and 
were  ordered  to  retreat.  The  siege  was  given 
up  and  the  report  went  back  that  the  Maid  had 
failed. 

But,  however  the  Archbishop  of  Rheims  and 
Georges  de  la  Tremouille  might  plot  for  her  dis- 
grace and  downfall,  the  King  found  it  profitable 
to  keep  up  her  prestige  in  foreign  courts.  On 
that  account  he  decided  to  ennoble  her  and  her 
family.  This  occurred  December  29,  1429,  at  the 
King's  Chateau,  the  same  place  where  Charles, 
many  years  after,  starved  to  death  for  fear  of 
being  poisoned  by  his  son  Louis  XL  There  is  no 
reason  to  believe  otherwise  than  that  the  King, 
in  his  understanding  of  affairs,  was  sincere  in  de- 
siring to  show  his  appreciation.  His  blunders  and 
failures  were  from  the  complaisant  stupidity  of 
Ms  own  disposition,  his  greater  pleasure  in  liv- 

174 


VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS      175 

ing  at  peace  with  his  favorites,  and  his  confidence 
in  the  intrigues  of  diplomacy  being  more  powerful 
than  his  sword  or  the  continued  achievements  of 
the  Wonderful  Woman. 

Joan  loved  the  King  as  the  righteous  represen- 
tative of  her  beloved  France  in  the  name  of  the 
King  of  Heaven.  For  the  cause  he  represented  to 
her  people,  she  endured  everything  and  labored  on 
for  his  good.  Whatever  she  thought  of  his  un- 
worthiness,  there  was  no  other  hope  for  France. 

The  causes  and  meaning  of  the  ennoblement  are 
expressed  in  the  proclamation  of  the  King  briefly 
as  follows: 

'  *  Charles,  by  grace  of  God  King  of  France,  in 
the  perpetual  memory  of  an  event :  to  give  glory 
to  the  High  and  Divine  Wisdom,  for  the  many 
and  signal  favors  which  it  has  pleased  Him  to 
confer  upon  us  by  the  famous  ministry  of  our 
dear  and  well-beloved,  the  Maid  Joanne  d'Arc 
of  Domremy,  and  which,  by  the  aid  of  Divine 
Clemency,  we  hope  to  see  multiplied :  we  judge 
it  fit  and  opportune  to  elevate,  in  a  manner  wor- 
thy of  our  royal  majesty,  this  Maid  and  all  her 
family,  not  in  recognition  of  her  services  only,' 
but  also  to  publish  the  praises  of  God,  so  that 
being  thus  made  illustrious,  she  may  leave  to 
posterity  the  monument  of  a  recompense  ema- 
nating from  our  royal  liberality  to  perpetuate 
to  all  ages  the  Divine  glory,  and  the  fame  of 
so  many  graces," 


176 JOAN  OF  ARC 

The  unrestricted  ennoblement  of  Jeanne  and 
her  entire  family,  together  with  the  exemption  of 
her  two  native  villages  from  taxation  forever,  was 
the  greatest  of  testimonials  to  her  service,  hut  it 
could  add  nothing  to  her  real  friends,  who  be- 
lieved her  to  be  ennobled  above  all  earthly  things 
by  the  King  of  Heaven.  It  only  confirmed  Jeanne 
with  a  place  in  court  as  a  rival  to  the  King's 
worldly  favorites.  But  with  all  the  pious  world- 
liness  of  the  King  he  tried  in  his  own  light  and 
way  to  be  loyal  and  appreciative  for  her  personal 
services  to  him.  Her  higher  ideal  probably  never 
appeared  in  any  of  his  worldly-minded  visions. 

2.  The  Worldly  Glory  of  Her  Fame 

Joan  of  Arc  was  now  a  world  character.  She 
had  the  equipment  and  income  of  a  count.  Girls 
of  noble  birth  were  her  attendants.  The  King 
required  that  she  wear  the  gorgeous  uniforms  of 
the  princes  and  grandees.  Nevertheless  she  ex- 
pressed herself  as  having  been  happier  in  the  jer- 
kin of  leather  thongs  and  the  trappings  of  a  shep- 
herd maid  in  the  fields  of  Domremy. 

For  four  months  she  remained  at  the  French 
court  in  the  height  of  worldly  glory.  During  this 
time  her  enemies,  hating  her  severe  piety  and 
the  galling  moral  restraints  she  held  fast  upon 
their  licentious  gaiety,  began  to  organize  them- 
selves against  her. 

The  unscrupulous  fortune  teller,  Katherine  of 


VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS      177 

Rochelle,  whose  envy  and  malice  against  the  Maid 
paused  at  nothing  however  vile  that  might  do  in- 
jury, was  put  forward  into  the  King's  notice 
whenever  it  could  be  done.  She  claimed  that  she 
could  influence  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  to  make 
peace,  and  Charles  always  believed  that  the 
scheming  Duke  was  about  to  yield  to  him.  But 
La  Pucelle  insisted  that  the  only  peace  possible 
with  Burgundy  was  at  the  point  of  the  sword. 

Meanwhile,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy  continued  to 
strengthen  himself  and  the  King's  powers  cor- 
respondingly were  weakened.  Between  the  schem- 
ing aggressions  of  the  Duke  and  the  inactivity  of 
the  King  the  lot  of  the  people  grew  worse  and 
worse  into  a  desperation  more  and  more  hopeless. 
Jeanne  visited  many  places  trying  to  arouse  a 
united  effort  to  bring  peace  in  some  way  to  her 
mortally  suffering  France. 

The  testimony  of  many  women  who  slept  in  her 
chamber  was  that,  often  from  month  to  month, 
when  she  thought  them  all  asleep,  the  Maid  would 
arise,  and  kneeling  in  the  darkness,  implore  God 
for  light  and  a  way  to  bring  peace  to  her  beloved 
France. 

The  whole  country  had  now  become  a  vast  scene 
of  reprisal,  retaliation,  pillage  and  plunder  by 
raiding  parties  from  first  one  side  and  then  the 
other.  No  mercy  was  given  by  the  King's  sol- 
diers or  by  the  enemy.  Joan's  beloved  troops  were 
now  little  more  than  guerilla  bands  killing  and 
plundering  wherever  they  could  strike  the  enemy. 


178  JOAN  OF  ARC 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  no  longer  placed  any 
restraints  on  the  Picards  of  his  army.  He  was 
busy  celebrating  his  marriage  to  the  Princess  of 
Portugal  at  Bruges,  in  a  manner  more  magnifi- 
cent than  had  ever  before  been  seen  in  Flanders. 
But,  during  this  so-called  truce  of  peace  between 
Charles  and  the  Duke,  the  villages  under  Charles, 
within  reach  of  the  border  were  so  often  pillaged 
that  they  were  ready  for  any  master  who  could 
protect  them.  Thus  Charles  was  being  under- 
mined, so  that  the  territory  restored  by  the  Maid 
to  the  King  was  cursing  him  and  the  day  they 
lost  the  better  protection  of  the  English. 

3.  An  Example  of  Faith 

It  was  about  this  time,  to  illustrate  the  mon- 
strous fanaticism  of  the  age,  that  Pierrone  of 
Brittany,  a  little  peasant  girl,  whom  La  Pucelle 
had  befriended,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  theo- 
logical doctors  in  the  regions  occupied  by  the  ene- 
mies of  the  French  King.  Because  she  unceas- 
ingly declared  the  praise  of  the  Maid  and  would 
not  be  stopped,  she  was  brought  before  them  on 
a  charge  of  blasphemy.  They  tried  to  make  her 
say  that  Joan  was  a  witch  and  she  stoutly  declared 
to  their  faces  that  the  Maid  of  Orleans  was  sent 
from  God.  They  led  her  to  the  stake  on  the  third 
day  of  September,  1430.  But  the  poor  little  Bre- 
ton girl  had  caught  the  eternal  faith  of  La  Pu- 
celle and  she  bore  witness  with  her  blood  for  the 


VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS      179 

name  and  the  cause  of  one  she  had  seen  to  know, 
and  what  she  knew  she  could  not  cast  out  as  un- 
known. Like  the  one  she  loved  so  much  as  to  die 
for  her  good  name,  this  Little  One  of  the  Master's 
fold  kept  the  faith,  and  those  who  tried  to  make 
her  break  it  were  anathema  in  the  final  reckoning 
of  the  Church. 

The  hideous  character  of  religious  fanaticism, 
in  which  the  worst  torture  was  used  for  purposes 
and  to  obtain  results  that  were  far  less  reasonable 
and  merciful  than  any  brutality  of  beasts-,  has  not 
changed  since  then  as  to  the  natural  development 
of  men's  will.  It  does  not  give  its  culture  to  others 
for  their  good  but  for  its  own  increased  strength. 
The  liquid  flame  and  poison  gas  used  to  advance 
the  dynastic  power  of  Germany  in  the  European 
War,  with  the  hideous  methods  of  frightfulness 
and  the  still  more  hideous  repudiation  of  moral 
law,  reveal  the  unchanged  nature  of  the  will  to 
mastery  for  the  sake  of  a  master,  whose  people 
believe  themselves  to  be  a  divinely  chosen  people 
having  a  divinely-given  master  as  the  empire-sov- 
ereign of  the  earth. 

The  will  to  power  shown  by  the  military-ecclesi- 
astic organization  of  the  dark  ages  and  the  dynas- 
tic-capitalistic-socialism of  Middle-Europe  domin- 
ion, are  the  same  forms  of  will  as  shown  in  the 
predatory  greed  of  speculative  business  in  Amer- 
ica. It  is  the  same  merciless,  burning,  suffocating 
beastliness  of  will  as  the  divine  right  of  self, 


180 JOAN  OF  ARC 

driving  on  to  its  inhuman  mastery  over  the  in- 
alienable rights  of  the  helpless  child  of  the  streets, 
or  in  manipulation  of  the  public  mind  for  political 
or  party  purposes,  against  the  moral  right  and 
vital  need  of  the  people  to  know  and  to  do  the 
truth. 


4.  The  Self-interest  of  Courts  and  Kings 

The  tortures,  abominable  and  ferocious,  that 
were  on  the  way  through  the  jungles  of  that  in- 
human time  to  seize  La  Pucelle  were  none  so  ter- 
rible and  painful  to  her  as  the  savage  ravage- 
ment  of  her  people  to  which  the  enemy  were  daily 
subjecting  them. 

The  break  in  her  decision  came  at  last  when  she 
received  a  letter  from  the  terror-stricken  people 
at  Bheims.  The  Duke  was  now  on  the  march  with 
a  reorganized  army  to  join  the  newly-arrived 
forces  of  the  English  at  Paris.  Utter  disaster  for 
all  that  had  been  won  was  moving  upon  them. 

Her  promise  to  them  was  thus  in  brief : '  *  Know 
that  you  shall  not  be  besieged  if  I  can  stay  your 
enemies;  and  if  I  meet  them  not,  and  they  come 
against  you,  shut  your  gates,  and  I  will  shortly 
be  with  you,  and  drive  them  so  hard  that  they 
shall  not  know  whither  to  betake  themselves.'* 

Twelve  days  later  in  answer  to  another  cry  for 
help  from  the  approaching  Burgundians,  she  re- 
plied, "I  beg  and  pray  you,  my  dear  friends,  that 
you  will  guard  your  city  well  for  the  King,  and 


VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS     181 

keep  good  watch.  You  shall  very  soon  hear  of  my 
good  news." 

Almost  superhuman  energy  and  skill  were  now 
put  forth  by  Joan  in  her  efforts  to  have  the  King 
see  that  the  Burgundian  truce  was  a  subterfuge, 
that  the  cause  of  the  King  was  being  betrayed, 
and  that  he  must  meet  war  with  war,  and  not  with 
promises,  if  there  was  to  be  any  more  a  kingdom 
of  France. 

Her  failures  in  battle  she  knew  had  been 
through  treachery  and  her  loss  of  influence  over 
the  King  was  more  treachery.  Her  prayers  and 
tears  were  unavailing.  His  three  most  trusted 
councilors,  the  Archbishop  Gaucourt  and  Tre- 
mouille,  all  of  them  assured  the  King  that  their 
diplomacy  was  succeeding  and  all  they  needed 
was  to  fulfill  the  terms  of  the  truce  when  Bur- 
gundy would  swear  allegiance  to  him  and  drive 
the  English  out  of  Paris. 

There  is  a  possibility  that  these  complacent 
pacifists  were  themselves  deceived,  but  it  seems 
more  merciful  to  concede  that  they  were  rational 
men  and  therefore  traitors  in  the  pay  of  the  en- 
emy of  the  King. 

La  Pucelle's  devotion  to  the  King  was  her  de- 
votion to  France  as  her  religious  mission  on  earth 
for  the  King  of  Heaven.  Her  heart  was  torn  with 
pain  at  seeing  the  success  of  treachery  over  the 
deceived  King.  He  ordered  her  to  cease  from  op- 
posing the  Duke.  The  bitter  struggle  was  between 
obedience  to  the  intelligence  of  the  King  expressed 


182 JOAN  OF  ARC 

in  his  commands,  and  the  rights  of  the  King  as 
lodged  in  the  actual  truth  of  events  for  the  cause 
of  France.  In  response  to  her  higher  duty  she 
had  fled  as  a  peasant  girl  from  Domremy.  God 
had  verified  her  voices  and  fulfilled  the  divine 
cause  with  her.  Could  she  now  do  less? 

It  was  the  hour  of  great  decision. 

Jean  d'Aulon,  Bertrand  de  Poulangy,  her  faith- 
ful brother  Pierre,  her  chaplain,  and  Jean  de 
Metz,  with  her  company  of  bodyguards,  were  her 
near  associates  who  remained  true.  They  had  her 
confidence  in  the  sublime  duty  that  could  not  be 
seen  by  a  favorite-blinded  King. 

5.  Away  to  the  Defense  of  the  People  of  France 

Brother  Richard,  believing  in  the  divine  powers 
of  Katherine  of  Rochelle,  was  now  the  center  of 
religious  influence  among  the  court-enemies  of 
Jeanne.  Most  of  the  watchful  ones  had  gone  with 
these  two  strange  persons  to  Orleans  where  the 
Lent  sermon  was  being  preached  by  Brother  Ri- 
chard. 

It  was  a  good  time  for  the  flight  of  Jeanne  from 
the  worldly  follies  of  the  King's  court.  All  the 
grand  honors  had  faded  away  before  the  sunrise 
of  her  duty  to  France  and  God. 

The  hour  had  come  when  something  must  be 
done.  Her  intimate  associates,  at  a  given  signal, 
bestrode  their  horses  as  if  they  were  away  for  a 
merry  ride.  But,  underneath  the  robes  of  Joan 


VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS      183 

of  Arc  was  the  armor  of  a  warrior  battling  for 
the  cause  of  France  and  God.  Her  Voices  had 
told  her  that  she  had  a  year  and  a  little  more  to 
live  and  there  was  now  not  much  more  time  to 
work  for  France. 

They  rode  away  without  farewell  to  any  one, 
away  to  stop  the  spear-thrusts  in  the  sides  of 
France.  The  Maid  never  saw  her  beloved  King 
again.  She  left  him  alone  in  his  woeful  confi- 
dence. But  as  much  as  she  went  forward  to  ful- 
fill faith,  it  was  as  if  she  were  leaving  hope  be- 
hind. Her  enemies  at  court  could  show  the  weak- 
willed  man  that  their  predictions  to  him  were  true. 
Joan  of  Arc  was  false  to  the  King!  She  cared 
nothing  for  his  appreciation!  Had  he  not  en- 
nobled this  peasant  girl!  Made  her  the  equal  of 
his  favorites !  Given  her  a  place  among  the  high- 
er human  beings!  And  now  she  was  destroying 
the  truce  of  peace  in  which  diplomacy  was  to  heal 
the  wounds  of  France ! 

The  Maid's  Voices  had  whispered  long  before 
that  she  had  not  long  to  live.  She  heard  them 
again  saying  that  before  midsummer  she  would 
be  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  her  enemies.  Her 
associates  all  testified  that  she  had  told  them  this. 
She  began  to  feel  that  her  mission  was  ended. 
She  no  longer  tried  to  command  the  troops.  She 
did  not  go  into  the  councils  planning  their  expedi- 
tions. She  remained  in  almost  constant  prayer. 
Her  one  wish  was  that  she  would  not  have  to  suf- 
fer the  cruelties  of  her  enemies  long.  She  had 


184, JOAN  OF  ARC 

felt  her  friends  slipping  away  and  the  people  in 
their  suffering  had  lost  faith  in  her.  But  the 
stunning  revelation  was  yet  to  come  to  her,  that, 
with  all  the  supreme  honors  and  costly  gifts  that 
had  been  showered  upon  her,  there  was  not  left 
enough  friendship  to  pay  her  captive's  ransom 
anywhere  in  all  the  world.  So  had  her  enemies 
succeeded.  So  do  they  always  succeed  wherever 
they  can  pervert  as  the  liar  despoils  the  mind. 
Like  not  only  produces  like  in  times  of  peace  but 
it  requires  like  to  kill  like  in  times  of  war. 

6.  The  Last  Battle  of  the  Warrior  Woman 

Joan  of  Arc  had  yielded  up  her  authority  as 
given  from  God,  but  she  was  never  less  tireless 
in  the  labor  of  a  warrior  in  the  army  for  freedom 
to  the  people  of  France.  She  was  at  the  front  in 
numerous  battles,  but  she  believed  the  scenes  of 
life  were  closing  around  her. 

The  fatal  time  came  when  she  heard  that  the 
siege  of  Compiegne  had  begun.  She  mounted  her 
horse  crying,  "I  will  go  to  see  my  good  friends  of 
Compiegne."  A  great  bronze  statue  of  the  Maid 
was  erected  there  in  recent  times  with  these  brave 
words  upon  it. 

She  was  warned  that  the  roads  were  so  infested 
with  the  enemy  that  she  could  not  get  through, 
but,  in  her  faith  for  the  great  need,  there  was  no 
such  word  as  "could  not"  to  any  right  thing.  She 
braved  the  dangerous  way  and  after  several  thrill- 


VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS      185 

ing  escapes  arrived  with  her  bodyguard  of  faith- 
ful friends. 

Many  years  after,  when  children  had  grown  old, 
several  old  men  and  women  testified  that  they, 
with  other  children  of  the  poor,  were  at  early 
mass  in  the  Church  of  Saint  Jacques  in  Com- 
piegne,  when  the  Heavenly  Maid  came  in  and 
knelt  before  the  altar.  They  were  rapt  in  wonder 
at  the  glorious  woman  when  she  arose,  and  stand- 
ing by  the  pillar,  looking  back  at  the  altar-image 
of  the  Crucified  One,  said,  '  *  My  children  and  dear 
friends,  I  tell  you  that  I  have  now  learned  that 
I  am  to  be  sold  and  betrayed  and  will  soon  be 
delivered  over  to  death.  I  beg  you  to  pray  God 
for  me,  for  nevermore  shall  I  have  power  to  serve 
the  realm  of  France. " 

Then  she  became  silent,  and  as  she  told  them, 
a  voice  said  to  her,  "Take  all  things  well,  for 
thus  it  must  be.  God  will  aid  thee." 

At  this  she  turned  to  the  sorrowing  hearts 
about  her,  saying,  "My  children  and  dear  friends, 
pray  for  me." 

The  witnesses  who  heard  her  moaning  at  the 
altar  in  the  Church  of  Saint  James  at  Compiegne, 
could  not  have  invented  the  words  they  testify 
under  oath,  in  name  of  their  soul's  salvation,  that 
they  heard  her  say.  Those  words  bear  witness  of 
their  own  truth,  so  life-like  are  they  in  harmony 
with  what  we  know  of  her.  She  had  often  urged 
her  King  and  her  generals  to  hasten  her  work  for 


186 JOAN  OF  ARC 

she  had  only  a  year  and  a  little  more  to  live,  and 
time  was  on  the  wing. 

At  five  o'clock  that  afternoon,  May  23,  1429, 
she  with  her  faithful  officers  commanding  about 
five  hundred  men,  rode  out  of  the  town  for  a  sur- 
prise attack  on  the  besieging  camp  at  Margny. 
To  make  them  safe  in  case  of  being  driven  back, 
cannons  were  planted  on  the  walls,  and  bowmen 
were  arranged  in  boats  below  in  the  stream,  to 
come  to  their  rescue. 

The  surprise  was  successful  as  the  Picards  ex- 
pecting no  attack  had  laid  aside  their  armor.  But 
their  officers  having  met  for  a  council  with  other 
officers  on  the  bluffs  above  saw  the  banner  of  the 
Maid  coming  through  the  gate  at  Compiegne,  and 
they  hastened  to  bring  on  the  nearest  companies 
of  Flemings  and  Burgundians. 

With  all  her  old  heroism  the  Maid  of  Orleans 
rallied  the  men  to  withstand  the  new  assault. 
But  the  odds  were  too  great.  The  men  wavered 
and  broke. 

"Make  for  the  gates  or  you  are  lost,"  cried  the 
captains. 

But  the  Maid  knew  no  such  thing  as  defeat. 

"Silence!"  she  cried  to  the  captains.  "Follow 
me  and  strike." 

The  fleeing  soldiers  turned.  They  drove  the 
enemy  back  in  disorder,  when  a  freshly  arrived 
company  of  English  struck  them  unexpectedly 
from  a  side  attack.  Her  soldiers  gave  way  in 
utter  rout. 


VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS     187 

7.  The  Capture 

English,  and  Picards,  seeing  the  banner  of  the 
Maid  faltering  and  falling  in  the  midst  of  the 
panic-stricken  mass,  strove  with  one  another  for 
the  capture  of  so  great  a  prize. 

An  eye-witness  says  that  the  Maid  was  the  last 
to  yield  every  foot  of  battle-ground.  Her  brave 
associates  rallied  around  her.  "She  was  the  most 
valiant  of  her  band.  Doing  deeds  beyond  the 
nature  of  woman." 

Never  had  woman  done  such  deeds  of  valor  in 
any  history  known  since  history  began.  She 
fought  her  way  to  the  drawbridge  through  an  on- 
slaught of  soldiers  from  all  sides.  A  great  crowd 
of  fugitives  were  there  choking  the  way  in  frantic 
endeavor  to  get  over  the  moat  and  through  the 
gate,  back  into  the  city.  She  fought  more  furi- 
ously than  ever  to  give  her  friends  the  chance  for 
escape.  Then  suddenly  the  drawbridge  was  lifted, 
the  gate  was  closed  and  the  few  remaining  ones 
outside  were  left  to  their  fate. 

Whether  this  happened  in  a  panic,  as  some  his- 
torians suppose,  or  whether  the  governor,  as  gen- 
erally believed,  thus  saw  a  chance  to  be  rid  of 
her  interference  with  his  plans,  there  has  never 
been  any  way  to  know.  But  De  Flavy,  who  was 
accused  of  closing  the  gates  against  her,  had  a 
notorious  reputation  as  a  man  without  conscience 
or  honor.  He  knew  that  she  had  left  the  royal 
court  against  the  orders  of  the  King.  There  is 


188 JOAN  OF  ARC 

every  presumption  that  her  day  of  betrayal  had 
come. 

Seeing  that  it  was  hopeless  to  remain  where  she 
was,  she  gathered  the  remnant  of  her  guard  and 
tried  to  fight  her  way  around  the  moat  to  the 
other  gate.  Valiantly  they  strove  on  against 
overwhelming  odds  almost  half  the  way.  There 
her  enemies  reached  her,  when  all  her  defenders 
had  fallen. 

One  seized  her  horse's  bridle.  Another  caught 
a  firm  hold  upon  her  wrist,  but  it  was  a  Picard 
archer  who  dragged  her  from  the  saddle  by  her 
scarlet  cloak. 

"Give  yourself  up  to  me,"  cried  an  officer  rid- 
ing through  the  crowd.  "Give  me  your  faith, " 
called  Lyonel  of  Vendome  over  their  heads. 

"I  have  given  my  faith  to  another  than  you," 
she  cried  out  sharply  above  all  the  tumult,  mean- 
ing to  God  and  the  King,  "and  that  oath  will  I 
keep."  And  that  faith,  plighted  to  righteousness 
above  all  the  wills  of  men,  she  did  keep,  as  only 
the  faith-keeping  soul  is  empowered  to  be  true. 

"The  year  and  a  little  more"  was  drawing 
rapidly  near  to  the  most  wonderful  battle  ever 
fought  between  faith  and  will. 

Believing  as  she  did  that  this  capture,  doubtless 
on  the  way  to  death,  was  to  come  to  pass  soon, 
yet  she  went  on  courting  every  danger  where  she 
believed  she  could  do  her  country  any  good.  No- 
where in  human  history  is  there  a  greater  example 


189 


of  devotion   and  courage,  than  this   wonderful 
woman,  the  bravest  of  the  brave. 

Theodore  Roberts  thus  describes  his  vision  of 
the  Maid,  as  the  Spirit  of  Womanhood  in  the 
midst  of  evil,  warring  against  the  Lords  of  wrong : 

"Thunder  of  riotous  hoofs  over  the  quaking  sod; 

Clash  of  reeking  squadrons,  steel-capped,  iron  shod; 

The  White  Maid  and  the  White  Horse  and  the  flapping  ban- 
ner of  God. 

Black  hearts  riding  for  money,  red  hearts  riding  for  fame; 

The  Maid  who  rides  for  France,  and  the  King  who  rides  for 
shame. 

Gentlemen,  fools,  and  a  saint  riding  in  Christ's  high  name! 

Like  a  story  from  some  old  book,  that  battle  of  long  ago; 

Shadows  the  poor  French  King  and  the  might  of  his  English 
foe; 

Shadows  the  charging  nobles,  and  the  archers  kneeling  a- 
row — 

But  a  flame  in  my  heart  and  my  eyes,  the  Maid  with  the  ban- 
ner of  snow." 


8.  Views  from  the  Men  of  Her  Time 

The  last  fight  for  France  was  the  beginning  of 
her  fight  for  the  world,  and  this  was  greater  than 
all  that  had  gone  before  on  her  wonderful  way. 

George  Chastellain,  a  Burgundian  warrior  and 
a  bitter  enemy,  thus  writes  of  her  capture  at  Com- 
piegne:  "The  maiden,  beyond  the  nature  of 
woman,  endured  to  do  mighty  deeds,  and  labored 
sore  to  save  her  company  from  loss,  remaining 
in  the  rear  of  her  retreating  force  as  the  most 


190 JOAN  OF  ARC 

valiant  of  her  troop ;  there  where  fortune  granted 
it,  for  the  end  of  her  glory,  and  the  last  time  of 
her  bearing  arms." 

Joan  of  Arc  did  not  lack  for  fame  from  Orleans 
to  Compiegne,  as,  during  that  time,  all  the  world 
was  filled  with  the  wonder  of  her  work.  So  great 
was  the  fear  of  her  on  the  side  of  the  enemy,  that 
the  severest  decrees  had  to  be  issued  to  stop  de- 
serting and  to  prevent  the  demoralization  of  the 
army.  In  foreign  friendly  nations,  the  most  noted 
kings,  princes  and  high  ecclesiasts  vied  with  one 
another  in  doing  her  honor.  Historians  consider 
it  indisputable  that  if  Charles  had  given  her  king- 
like  energy  or  support,  all  France  would  have 
been  cleared  of  its  enemies  in  a  few  months,  and 
perhaps  all  Christendom  united  around  her  to 
rescue  the  Holy  Land  from  the  Turks. 

Monstrelet,  secretary  to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy, 
wrote  that  there  was  never  knight  nor  captain  in 
the  French  army  so  much  feared  as  the  Maid  of 
Orleans.  Her  capture  was  worth  more  to  them 
than  to  capture  an  army. 

An  old  English  Chronicle  records  that  when  the 
English  secured  possession  of  the  Maid,  they 
"were  more  rejoiced  than  if  they  had  gained  all 
the  gold  of  Lombardy."  No  more  proclamations 
would  now  be  needed  to  stop  the  desertions  from 
the  English  army,  occurring  so  extensively  from 
fear  of  her.  It  is  notable  that,  through  all  history, 
the  greatest  destroyers  of  right  and  the  worst 
murderers  of  men  have  always  claimed  the  clos- 


VICTORY  OF  EVIL  MINDS      191 

est  alliance  with  God.  They  were  doubtless  sin- 
cere enough  in  their  egomania,  as  their  God,  being 
a  God  of  might,  would  associate  only  with  might 
and  give  His  aid  only  to  masteries. 

The  Duke  of  Burgundy  hastened  to  inform  his 
allies  of  the  capture  of  the  Maid  and  the  follow- 
ing is  part  of  his  proclamation: 

1 1  By  the  pleasure  of  our  blessed  Creator,  the 
thing  has  so  happened,  and  such  favor  has  been 
done  us,  that  she  who  is  called  the  Maid,  has 
been  taken.  We  write  these  tidings  for  your 
great  joy  and  comfort  in  them,  that  you  will 
give  thanks  and  praise  to  our  Creator  who  by 
His  blessed  pleasure  deigns  to  guide  our  enter- 
prises to  the  good  of  our  Lord  the  King,  and 
the  relief  of  his  loyal  subjects." 

9.  Explanation  of  the  Great  News 

As  the  vesper  bells  now  came  to  the  ear  of  the 
captive  girl,  she  no  longer  heard  within  their 
music  the  Voices  saying,  * '  Go  on,  go  on,  daughter 
of  God,  go  on!"  Her  Voices  now  said,  "Suffer  all 
for  God  is  with  you  to  the  end."  That  is  the  voice 
of  "justification  by  faith."  It  is  the  belief  that 
what  has  happened  has  been  from  the  source  of 
truth  and  that  the  order  of  truth  is  the  order  of 
almighty  and  inevitable  moral  law. 

The  fall  of  a  King  could  not  cause  more  re- 
joicing among  his  enemies  than  the  capture  of 
Joan  of  Arc  brought  to  the  sordid  masters  whom 


192 JOAN  OF  ARC 

she  had  restrained  in  their  greed  and  in  their  op- 
pression of  the  poor. 

The  Archbishop  of  Rheims  threw  all  his  power- 
ful influence  into  an  explanation  that  her  fall  was 
merited  because  she  had  become  too  proud  of 
glory!  The  hideous  excuse  to  the  licentious 
throng  that  God  had  abandoned  her  for  her  pride 
was  quickly  accepted,  and  then  it  was  easy  to  say 
that  God  had  never  been  the  source  of  her  success. 

A  shepherd  boy  from  the  mountains  of  Gevau- 
dun  was  brought  in  with  the  sign  of  the  stigmata, 
that  is,  the  bleeding  wounds  of  the  Savior,  who 
was  accepted  as  a  prophet,  saying  the  Maid  had 
been  captured  by  her  enemies  because  she  had  per- 
sisted in  doing  her  own  will  instead  of  the  will 
of  God. 

The  Archbishop  quoted  this  with  his  sanction 
as  the  reason  why  the  people  should  not  grieve 
or  pray  for  her. 

This  dreadful  letter,  written  to  Orleans  and 
other  cities  she  had  rescued,  had  great  weight  be- 
cause it  was  sent  by  the  spiritual  adviser  of  the 
King.  He  hated  her  for  believing  that  she  should 
take  her  orders  from  God  rather  than  from  him, 
who  was  a  real  official  of  God.  This  may  ex- 
plain much  that  brought  all  her  love  and  wisdom 
and  labor  to  nothing  at  that  time,  and  ended  in 
her  capture  by  those  she  had  fought  in  the  name 
of  France  and  God. 


CHAPTER  XI 

HOW  SELF-INTEEEST  DECIDES  QUES- 
TIONS OF  BIGHT  AND  WRONG 

1.  Rcmsom  Money 

Two  days  after  her  capture,  the  news  reached 
Paris.  On  the  following  day,  May  26,  by  author- 
ity of  the  University  of  Paris,  a  letter  was  writ- 
ten to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  in  the  name  and 
under  the  seal  of  Martin  Billormi,  vicar-general 
of  the  Inquisition,  demanding  that  the  Maid  of 
Orleans  be  at  once  surrendered  to  the  Holy  Of- 
fice, to  be  tried  for  various  heretical  crimes 
against  the  honor  of  God. 

The  Duke  made  no  reply,  for  he  believed  her 
to  be  worth  any  king's  ransom,  and  he  evidently 
expected  Charles  to  be  willing  to  give  anything 
in  his  kingdom  for  her  freedom  and  restoration. 

Some  think  that  the  Duke  might  have  had  some 
feelings  of  knightly  honor  against  giving  so 
knightly  a  person  of  such  unimpeachable  chivalry 
over  to  such  bitter  foes  that  they  would  try  her 
as  a  witch  and  burn  her  at  the  stake.  He  may 
have  had  enough  of  nobility  in  him  to  appreciate 
her  as  a  worthy  antagonist  fully  entitled  to  all  the 

193 


194 JOAN  OF  ARC 

protection  of  an  honorable  prisoner  taken  in  a 
Christian  war. 

The  Duke,  no  less  than  all  others  knew  that, 
whatever  superstition  had  said  of  her,  or  what- 
ever she  had  assumed  to  be  more  than  the  author- 
ized representatives  of  God,  she  had  been  a  noble 
warrior,  a  generous  conqueror,  an  unsullied  wo- 
man, and  above  all  unmistakably  the  soul  of  res- 
toration for  the  kingdom  of  France. 

Jean  of  Luxembourg,  who  had  held  her  as  his 
prisoner,  refused  to  give  her  up  unless  he  received 
fair  ransom  money. 

But  she  had  enemies  at  court,  and  the  King  was 
never  known  to  move  for  any  person  or  thing,  not 
even  for  his  crown  of  France,  where  the  opposi- 
tion was  any  way  insistent.  He  was  the  pacifist 
among  kings,  the  non-resistant  mind  in  whose 
hands  were  the  fortunes  of  life  for  a  nation. 

As  the  measure  of  ransom  money  fell  in  the 
estimates  of  Jeanne 's  captor,  his  respect  for  her 
lessened  and  the  brutish  resentment  in  him  pre- 
vailed. 

We  can  not  know  how  much  to  believe  concern- 
ing the  shame  or  villainy  in  her  treatment,  from 
the  various  stories  of  the  times,  but  since  her 
enemies  were  fed  on  the  slanders  made  to  ruin 
her  influence,  she  may  have  been  treated  as  foully 
as  the  worst  that  has  been  told.  But  even  these 
enemies  bear  witness  that  neither  schemes,  fraud 
nor  violence  could  break  her  spirit  of  faith  nor 
corrupt  her  ideal  of  saintly  womanhood. 


, EIGHT  AND  WRONG  195 

«• 

2.  Sold  to  the  Highest  Bidder 

Jean  of  Luxembourg,  who  was  a  nephew  of  the 
Duke,  could  get  no  money  from  the  court  of 
France.  The  English  court  did  not  show  any  in- 
terest because  their  needs  were  all  served  in  her 
being  a  prisoner  away  from  participation  in  the 
war.  The  Inquisition  could  not  organize  any 
movement  to  put  her  on  trial  for  sorcery  or  her- 
esy, because  there  were  numerous  powerful  pre-1 
lates  who  believed,  and  who,  like  the  Inquisitor 
of  Toulouse,  did  not  hesitate  to  assert  that  Jeanne 
d'Arc  was  unimpeachably  a  good  Christian  and 
Catholic. 

The  University  was  renowned  as  having  the  or- 
thodox scholarship  of  that  age.  It  threw  its  in- 
fluence wherever  it  could  add  to  its  prestige  and 
power.  A  scholarly  priest,  Pierre  Cauchon,  who 
had  been  Bishop  of  Beauvais,  and  was  driven 
from  there  by  the  Maid's  army,  was  now  in  high 
favor  with  the  University,  and  had  become  an 
official  member  of  the  English  Council.  He  had 
secured  his  degree  of  Doctor  of  Arts  and  Canon 
Law  and  had  been  made  rector  in  1403  of  the 
University  of  Paris.  The  capture  having  been 
made  in  his  diocese,  he  put  forward  a  claim  to 
her  and  the  University  lent  all  its  influence,  in- 
trigue and  power  to  support  him  in  his  claim. 
He  had  been  most  malignant  in  his  hate  of  the 
Maid,  and  had  written  much  proclaiming  the 
wicked  policy  of  Charles  in  profiting  by  the  sor- 


196 JOAN  OF  ARC 

ceries  of  "the  Armagnac  witch."  Therefore,  the 
University  was  unanimous  in  proclaiming  him  as 
the  rightful  judge  of  the  captured  woman.  He 
had  suffered  from  her  Anti-Christ  powers  and 
therefore  was  the  best  qualified  to  sift  the  evi- 
dence against  her! 

The  English  council  had  been  given  charge  of 
the  most  noted  French  prisoners,  but  it  was  three 
months  before  it  made  any  move  to  secure  cus- 
tody of  Jeanne  d'Arc.  Probably  this  move  was 
caused  by  rumors  that  the  Maid  had  more  than 
once  almost  succeeded  in  escaping,  and  that  a 
powerful  rescue  party  was  being  organized  among 
her  friends.  They  also  had  little  faith  in  the  Duke 
of  Burgundy. 

Pierre  Cauchon,  fugitive  Bishop  of  Beauvais, 
was  the  prime  mover  in  every  plan  to  secure  the 
Maid.  On  July  24,  in  great  pomp  and  circum- 
stance, he  arrived  among  the  besiegers  around 
Compiegne.  He  was  accompanied  by  an  envoy  of 
the  University,  and  an  apostolic  notary.  He 
loudly  proclaimed  the  Maid  to  be  a  witch,  an  idol- 
atress and  a  heretic.  Under  seal  of  the  English 
King,  they  brought  the  summons. 

"With  all  this  array  of  authority,  the  Bishop  of 
Beauvais  demanded,  ''That  the  woman,  who  is 
commonly  called  Jeanne  the  Maid,  prisoner,  be 
sent  to  the  King  to  be  delivered  to  the  Church, 
to  take  her  trial,  because  she  is  suspected  and 
accused  of  having  committed  many  crimes,  such 


EIGHT  AND  WRONG  197 

as  sorceries,  idolatries,  invocation  of  demons  and 
many  other  things  touching  our  faith  and  against 
it.  Considering  this,  she  ought  not  to  be  regarded 
as  a  prize  of  war,  nevertheless,  for  the  remuner- 
ation of  those  who  took  and  have  kept  her,  the 
King  will  liberally  give  to  them  the  sum  of  six 
thousand  francs,  and  to  her  captor,  he  will  assign 
a  pension  of  two  or  three  hundred  lires."  The 
total  sum  in  modern  values  represents  probably 
about  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  I 

The  money  was  supplied  by  the  English  Regent 
in  France  and  was  finally  accounted  for  by  a  bur- 
densome tax  on  Normandy. 

3.  The  Justice  of  Wills  Organized  for  Power  and 
Mastery 

Some  idea  of  the  value  named  for  La  Pucelle 
is  seen  when  the  cash  paid  for  her  was  about  five 
times  the  amount  customary  for  the  ransom  of  a 
King.  The  price  of  prisoners,  like  other  commod- 
ities, was  quite  well  regulated  by  supply  and  de- 
mand. As  usual,  the  powerful  lost  no  money,  the 
common  people  had  to  pay  the  price.  She  was  a 
prisoner  of  war,  but  she  was  sold  like  property 
and  was  not  ransomed.  Thus  everything  done 
against  her  was  always  illegal  and  wrong.  It  was 
as  if  she,  as  the  personification  of  faith,  were 
intended  by  Providence  to  represent  the  disorder 
and  unreason  of  will  in  the  affairs  of  man.  Every 
move  in  the  process  against  her  was  in  full  vio- 


198 JOAN  OF  ARC 

lation  of  all  custom  but  also  of  both  the  ecclesi- 
astical and  civil  law. 

A  subjoined  item  in  the  ecclesiastical  demand 
left  no  doubt  as  to  what  would  be  her  fate.  It 
stated  that  any  points  at  issue  would  be  submit- 
ted to  learned  doctors  in  theology  and  canon-law, 
and  to  experts  in  all  matters  of  jurisprudence,  so 
"that  it  may  be  wisely,  piously,  and  maturely 
done,  to  the  exaltation  of  the  faith,  and  the  in- 
struction of  many  who  have  been  deceived  or  mis- 
led on  account  of  this  woman."  False  facts  thus 
accompany  false  reasoning  in  the  breeding  of 
more  monstrous  facts  for  the  perpetuation  of  the 
ancient  meaning  of  hell. 

The  University  of  Paris  in  a  long  letter  to  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy,  very  humbly  yet  vehemently 
demanded  that  "the  Maid  be  put  into  the  hands  of 
justice,  duly  to  take  her  trial  for  the  idolatries 
and  scandals  which  by  her  means  have  come  on 
this  kingdom." 

Reciting  the  awful  wickedness  of  this  woman, 
the  University  asserted  that  "so  great  a  wrong 
to  the  holy  faith,  so  enormous  a  peril,  disadvan- 
tage, and  injury  to  the  people  of  this  kingdom, 
has  not  happened  within  the  memory  of  man." 

To  leave  no  influence  unused  that  the  Maid  be 
delivered  over  to  "the  reverend  father  in  God, 
the  Lord  Bishop  of  Beauvais,"  the  University 
also  wrote  to  Jean  of  Luxembourg. 

"Very  noble,  honored  and  powerful  lord,"  it 
flatteringly  began,  "your  noble  prudence  under- 


EIGHT  AND  WRONG  199 

stands  well  all  good  Catholic  knights  ought  first 
to  employ  their  might  and  power  in  the  service  of 
God,  and  afterwards  for  the  public  good." 

The  God-idea  was  a  great  Will-idea  against 
those  judged  to  be  unorthodox,  and  it  knew  noth- 
ing of  the  faith  that  worked  for  the  public  good. 

This  idea  of  the  public  good  being  separate  and 
secondary  to  the  service  directed  by  the  author- 
ized representatives  of  God,  was  the  thing  that 
at  last  brought  on  the  conflict  between  political 
organizations  and  orthodox  organizations,  in 
which  the  divine  right  of  kings  first  fought  down 
the  divine  rights  of  ecclesiastical  masteries  and 
then  had  to  yield  to  the  divine  right  of  the  people 
whose  voice  finally  became  known  as  "the  voice 
of  God." 


4.  Reason  as  the  Tool  of  Selfishness 

The  letter  to  Joan's  captor  was  long  and  argu- 
mentative. It  asserted  that,  through  the  Maid, 
"the  honor  of  God  has  been  beyond  measure  af- 
fronted, the  faith  excessively  wounded,  and 
through  whose  means  idolatries,  errors,  bad  doc- 
trines, and  other  inestimable  evils  have  come 
upon  this  kingdom." 

This  recital  of  wrongs  done  by  a  woman  to  the 
French-English  empire  and  God  was  far  worse 
than  those  enumerated  in  the  American  Declara- 
tion of  Independence  against  England.  It  grossly 
libeled  the  eulogy  Shakespeare  wrote  for  man 


200  JOAN  OF  ARC 

when  lie  said,  ''How  noble  in  reason!"  But,  in 
the  definition  of  God,  such  beastly  minds  may  not 
have  been  in  men,  whatever  their  form.  All  au- 
tocracy of  will  is  a  tiger  that  crushes  its  innocent 
prey  for  food  with  which  to  grow  strength  for 
greater  masteries. 

The  innumerable  misdeeds  perpetrated  by  this 
woman  against  "our  mild  Creator"  were  alleged 
to  be  an  intolerable  offense  against  the  Divine 
Majesty.  This  knowledge  of  God's  attitude  to- 
ward La  Pucelle  did  not  come  through  any  in- 
tuition of  voices,  but  it  had  been  all  reasoned  out 
and  made  into  an  infallible  code  of  God. 

The  University  of  Paris  and  the  Lord  Bishop 
of  Beauvais  were  ferocious  enough  in  their  zeal 
to  bring  every  art  and  force  to  bear,  but  the  Duke 
and  his  nephew  did  not  consider  the  time  at  hand. 
The  delegation  went  back  without  her.  Mean- 
while, there  is  no  record  that  any  attempt  was 
ever  made  anywhere  by  any  one  to  ransom  or  re- 
store her.  Many  theories  have  been  offered  why 
this  was  so,  but  none  seem  to  be  sufficient  for  the 
situation. 

The  Catholic  Encyclopedia  says:  "No  words 
can  adequately  describe  the  disgraceful  ingrati- 
tude and  apathy  of  Charles  and  his  advisers  in 
leaving  the  Maid  to  her  fate.  If  military  force 
had  not  availed,  they  had  prisoners,  like  the  Earl 
of  Suffolk,  in  their  hands,  for  whom  she  would 
have  been  exchanged." 

Hearing  of  the  negotiations  for  selling  her  to 


JEANNE  IN  PRISON 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  201 

the  English  Council  or  to  the  Bishop  of  Beauvais, 
Joan  made  an  attempt  to  escape,  by  tearing  away 
one  of  the  planks  in  her  prison  wall.  We  have  no 
consistent  details  describing  this  attempt  but  it 
was  almost  successful,  and  she  was  taken  away  to 
Beaurevoir.  There  she  was  under  the  care  of  the 
good  old  Countess  of  Ligny  who  selected  one  of 
the  knightliest  of  her  young  men  to  make  love  to 
Jeanne  and  thus  in  marriage  to  save  her  from  her 
enemies,  but  the  Maid  treated  hiir  so  earnestly 
as  merely  a  friend  that  he  could  not  make  any 
advance  and  so  gave  it  up. 

Haimond  de  Macy,  was  this  handsome  and  noble 
cavalier.  Whether  he  acted  so  as  a  test,  or  from 
love  of  her,  is  not  surely  known,  but  he  testified 
that  he  endeavored  to  gain  her  affection,  and  that 
every  attempt  at  familiarity  was  turned  aside. 
In  writing  of  this  after  her  death,  he  said :  ' '  She 
was  indeed  of  modest  bearing,  both  in  word  and 
deed.  I  believe  her  to  be  in  Paradise." 

She  was  the  daughter  of  a  superior  faith,  and 
was  now  on  the  swift  way  foretold  to  be  little 
more  than  a  year  of  life,  and  then  a  great  triumph, 
the  triumph  of  sainthood  for  all  time,  the  saint- 
hood of  loyalty  to  faith  in  our  infinite  humanity. 

5.  When  Death  Seems  Better  Than  Life 

During  the  period  of  captivity  before  her  trial 
there  is  no  consecutive  story  and  we  know  of  it 
only  by  incidents  here  and  there  told  in  divers 


202 JOAN  OF  ARC 

ways  and  assigned  to  various  times.  A  few  of 
these  are  worthy  of  noting  without  attempt  at 
historical  consistency  or  order. 

La  Pucelle  was  allowed  to  climb  to  the  top  of 
the  tower  where  she  could  look  out  for  hours  over 
the  beautiful  fields  of  Picardy.  What  thoughts 
and  visions  filled  her  mind  during  these  sad  mus- 
ings only  her  tortured  soul  could  ever  know.  No 
doubt  she  often  looked  at  the  sky  that  lowered  far 
away  over  Chinon  and  wondered  why  she  never 
heard  from  the  King.  What  did  she  think  of  Or- 
leans, of  Tours,  of  Blois,  of  Rheims,  and  the  other 
cities  she  had  delivered  in  such  unparalleled  hero- 
ism from  the  invader?  Surely  there  were  hosts 
of  heavenly  visitors  about  her,  who  had  given 
their  lives  for  her  cause.  Sure  it  was  if  she  had 
been  at  Chinon  and  the  King  had  been  where  she 
was  now  prisoner  in  the  tower,  what  prodigies  of 
valor  she  would  have  done  for  his  rescue. 

She  prayed  but  we  do  not  know  the  burden  of 
her  prayer;  she  grieved  but  we  do  not  know  the 
pain  of  her  grief;  she  loved  but  we  do  not  know 
where  her  love  was  wounded  unto  death.  We  look 
back  through  five  hundred  years  into  that  dark- 
ened, blinded  time  and  wonder  without  relief  at 
the  minds  of  men.  Where  now  in  her  despair 
were  the  heroes  who  had  fought  so  long  at  her 
side?  Where  was  Alenc.on  and  La  Hire  and  Du- 
nois?  Where  were  her  brothers  and  the  noble 
family  at  Domremy?  Something  is  wrong  with 
history.  It  could  not  have  been  so!  Something 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  203 

we  do  not  know,  for  some  reason  we  do  not  know, 
staged  that  more  than  human  struggle  between 
faith  and  will. 

Meanwhile,  it  is  on  record  that  her  enemies  were 
haggling  back  and  forth  over  the  price  for  her 
blood.  The  French  King's  ministers  were  busy 
blackening  her  name.  The  King  himself  was  at 
peace,  though  it  is  said  that  he  grieved  much  when 
she  was  dead.  It  may  have  been  so.  He  was 
never  an  aggressively  bad  man.  It  was  the  vul- 
ture's peace.  It  preferred  to  live  on  the  remains 
of  the  dead.  He  was  a  man  of  peace,  of  peace  at 
any  price.  Six  years  later,  when  the  Duke  of 
Burgundy  had  lost  beyond  hope  all  his  dreams  of 
dominion,  the  enfeebled  intriguer  made  peace  with 
the  King,  and  France  fell  like  a  wounded,  starv- 
ing and  exhausted  animal  before  his  royal  door. 

In  the  midst  of  her  captivity  in  the  tower,  her 
only  friend  there,  the  Countess  of  Ligny  died. 
Then  came  the  news  that  Compiegne  was  about 
to  be  starved  into  submission,  and  the  besiegers 
had  sworn  to  put  all  the  people  to  the  sword, 
sparing  only  the  children  under  seven.  At  the 
same  time,  her  most  dreaded  enemy  and  most 
malignant  foe  arrived  with  a  new  proposition  to 
buy  her  from  her  captors.  The  news  was  now 
carried  to  Jeanne  that  she  was  at  last  sold  to  the 
infamous  Pierre  Cauchon,  who  was  then  at  the 
castle. 

This  infamous  thing  seemed  impossible  and  the 
fatal  desertion  seemed  worst  in  the  darkest  hour 


204 JOAN  OF  ARC 

when  France  needed  her  most.  In  unbearable  ter- 
ror, she  ran  to  the  tower,  and  climbed  the  steps, 
crying,  "0  God,  let  me  die  nowl" 

Never  pausing,  she  stretched  out  her  arms  to- 
ward her  beloved  France  in  supplication  and 
went  on  over.  Maybe  she  believed  the  angels 
would  bear  her  away  on  their  wings,  maybe  that 
her  Savior  would  not  allow  her  to  be  crushed  on 
the  stones  below,  maybe  it  was  only  to  be  away 
from  the  treacherous  earth,  away  from  the  strug- 
gling world. 

Those  who  found  her,  thought  she  was  dead. 
When  she  came  to  herself,  she  asked  how  she 
came  to  be  there.  When  they  told  her,  she  again 
realized  it  all,  and  in  meanings  unutterable, 
prayed  for  death.  Then,  as  strength  returned, 
the  spirit  of  her  divine  inspirations  renewed  the 
faith  within  her.  '  *  I  have  done  wrong, ' '  she  cried 
in  confession.  "Forgive  me,  0  God,  and  comfort 
me!" 


6.  Tlie  Pity  of  a  Woman  Shaming  the  Reason 
of  Man 

The  wife  of  Jean  of  Luxembourg,  having  pity 
on  her,  interceded  for  Jeanne  and  the  rabid  Bish- 
op of  Beauvais  was  sent  away  without  his  prey. 

Joan  was  profoundly  concerned  for  what  was 
happening  to  Compiegne.  One  of  her  attendants 
said  that,  when  the  news  was  brought  to  her  that 
Compiegne  was  about  to  surrender  from  famine, 


EIGHT  AND  WRONG  205 

she  cried  out  in  great  anguish,  and  in  prophecy 
that  came  true,  "It  shall  not  be,  for  all  the  places 
which  the  King  of  Heaven  has  restored  to  the 
gentle  King  Charles  by  my  aid  will  never  be  taken 
by  his  enemies,  if  he  be  diligent  to  guard  them." 
In  this  she  repeated  her  words,  that  were  as  a 
maxim  of  reproach  to  those  "who  do  the  work 
of  God  negligently,"  and  they  have  become  the 
words  of  modern  philosophy,  "God  will  work  for 
men  who  work." 

Jeanne  now  gave  herself  up  to  prayer  for  Com- 
piegne,  that  her  Lord  save  them  from  the  slaugh- 
ter determined  upon  by  the  besiegers.  Somehow  a 
wonderful  thing  happened.  The  people  in  Com- 
piegne  were  perishing  rapidly  in  the  famine  and 
must  yield  in  a  few  days,  when  the  Count  of  Ven- 
dome  raised  a  small  company,  about  one  hundred 
and  fifty  lancers,  to  see  if  anything  was  possible 
to  be  done  in  such  a  hopeless  condition.  He 
marched  down  along  the  banks  of  the  Oise  pro- 
tected by  the  forests  of  Guise.  The  famine- 
stricken  people  saw  him  and  set  up  a  great  re- 
joicing. The  camps  around  heard  and  wondered. 
News  came  in  that  Vendome  was  approaching 
with  an  army.  The  English  and  Burgundians 
drew  themselves  up  in  line  of  battle  with  their 
back  to  the  gates  of  Compiegne.  Flavy,  the  gov- 
ernor, saw  a  chance.  Every  man  and  woman  in 
the  town  was  given  weapons.  They  poured 
through  the  gates  in  a  torrent.  With  the  energy 
of  despair  they  attacked  a  near-by  fortification 


206  JOAN  OF  ARC 

manned  by  three  hundred  of  the  enemy.  They 
carried  it  by  storm  and  from  the  walls  signaled 
their  victory  to  the  little  bunch  of  lancers  with 
Vendome.  With  shouts  of  victory  they  came  on 
and  cut  their  way  through  without  the  loss  of  a 
man.  Night  coming  over  them,  the  Burgundians 
broke  camp,  leaving  their  fortresses  and  towers 
with  all  their  supplies.  The  English  drew  off  in 
the  opposite  direction.  The  people  of  Compiegne 
swarmed  over  the  deserted  camps  and  in  a  few 
days  the  French  soldiers  were  riding  a  wide  cir- 
cuit of  the  country  driving  away  every  remaining 
force  of  the  enemy. 

"The  witch-maid  of  the  Armagnacs  has  done 
it,"  passed  in  awestruck  tones  from  lip  to  lip, 
and  the  wise  men  among  them  became  sure  that 
everything  was  being  lost  to  them  so  long  as  the 
Maid  lived. 

The  Bishop  of  Beauvais  was  sent  back  with  the 
blood-money  that  was  required,  and  the  demand 
on  Jean  of  Luxembourg  was  renewed  in  the  name 
of  God  and  the  Church.  It  was  now  effective. 
The  Maid  was  at  last  sold  by  her  captor.  She 
was  carried  to  Arras.  It  was  on  the  way  to 
Rouen,  where  to  the  hideous  shame  of  all  the 
world,  her  ashes  were  to  meet  the  sordid  earth, 
and  from  whence  her  martyrdom  should  cry  out 
against  man's  inhumanity  to  man,  until  the  last 
master  of  souls  and  the  last  beast  of  the  will  shall 
be  driven  from  the  earth. 


EIGHT  AND  WRONG  207 

7.  Points  of  Interest  Along  the  Way 

Anatole  France  in  his  history  says  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  "  These  scholars  of  the  Univer- 
sity were  human ;  they  believed  what  it  was  their 
interest  to  believe ;  they  were  priests  and  they  be- 
held the  devil  everywhere,  but  especially  in  a 
woman.  Without  having  devoted  themselves  to 
any  profound  examination  of  the  deeds  and  say- 
ings of  this  damsel,  they  knew  enough  to  cause 
them  to  demand  an  immediate  inquiry.  She  called 
herself  the  emissary  of  God,  the  daughter  of  God. 
.  .  .  She  commanded  armies,  wherefore  she  was  a 
slayer  of  her  fellow  creatures,  and  foolhardy. 
She  was  seditious  for,  are  not  all  those  seditious 
who  support  the  opposite  party?" 

Accordingly  judgment  of  condemnation  was  al- 
ready entered  and  now  their  duty  became  the  will 
to  find  an  excuse  to  put  that  judgment  into  exe- 
cution. Such  is  always  the  reasoning  of  partisan- 
ship. It  assumes  the  interest  of  self  to  be  the 
highest  possible  interest,  and,  from  that  point  of 
reasoning,  interprets  its  will  to  be  moral  law. 

The  University  no  sooner  heard  that  La  Pu- 
celle  had  been  bought  from  her  captors  by  the 
English,  than  they  laid  claim  to  the  right  to  de- 
cide her  fate. 

This  great  victory  over  her  won  by  souls  as 
tainted  and  money  as  cursed  as  ever  bought  a 
Judas,  was  a  happy  chance  for  the  proof  of  great 
learning.  The  body  of  learned  men  drew  up  a 


208 JOAN  OF  ARC 

letter  of  congratulation  to  Henry  VI,  the  nine- 
year-old  King  of  England  and  France,  who  was 
the  grandchild  of  Isabeau,  the  French  Queen  who 
had  ruined  her  country,  and  then  betrayed  it  at 
Troyes.  The  learned  body  of  scholars,  after  re- 
citing what  had  happened,  said,  "We  now  again 
write  on  this  matter,  very  dread  and  sovereign 
lord  and  father,  always  offering  our  humble  and 
loyal  recommendations  that  there  may  be  no  neg- 
ligence in  dealing  with  it,  for  the  honor  of  our 
Savior  Jesus  Christ. " 

Jeanne  was  taken  like  a  dangerous  criminal  to 
the  gloomy  old  castle  of  Crotoy.  Here  she  re- 
ceived the  last  marks  of  mercy  she  was  ever  to 
know  on  earth,  and  was  allowed  a  few  evidences 
of  kindness  that  she  was  never  again  to  know  in 
this  world. 

There  were  some  good  ladies,  matrons  and 
maidens  at  Abbeville  who  petitioned  to  see  her. 
They  called  her  in  their  petition,  "a  marvel  of 
her  sex,  and  a  generous  soul  whom  God  had  in- 
spired for  the  good  of  France."  These  good 
women  had  some  powerful  influence  to  help  them, 
for  they  were  allowed  to  visit  Jeanne  in  prison. 
They  came  by  boat  five  leagues  down  the  Somme 
to  do  so.  They  said  many  beautiful  things  to  La 
Pucelle,  those  women  good  and  true  of  Abbeville. 
She  kissed  them  all  good-bye  and  asked  them  to 
pray  for  her.  They  went  away  weeping  and  all 
of  them  saying  how  wonderful  was  her  resigna- 
tion to  the  will  of  God. 


EIGHT  AND  WRONG  209 

What  Jeanne  suffered  at  Crotoy  deprived  of  all 
protection  from  brutal  guards  only  heaven  knows. 

We  do  not  know  the  prophetic  vision  that  may 
sometimes  have  been  unveiled  before  the  faith  of 
Joan  of  Arc,  but,  wherever  she  was  mistreated, 
there  stands  the  greatest  tributes  to  her  truth. 
The  fortress  of  Crotoy  overlooked  the  cold,  gray 
waters  of  the  channel,  and  now,  near  the  shore, 
there  stands  a  statue  in  bronze  of  the  Maid,  in  the 
dress  worn  in  the  fields  of  Domremy,  looking  out 
over  the  river.  The  inscription  reads,  "To  the 
daughter  of  the  people,  who,  full  of  faith  in  the 
destinies  of  France,  when  all  despaired,  delivered 
our  country.  .  .  .  Let  us  remember  always, 
Frenchmen,  that  our  country  was  born  from  the 
heart  of  a  woman,  from  her  tenderness  and  her 
tears,  from  the  blood  she  shed  for  us." 

One  cold,  sleety  day  in  early  December,  she  was 
taken  in  an  open  boat  across  the  river  and  lodged 
in  the  castle  of  Eu.  Then  she  was  taken  to  Dieppe 
and  a  few  days  before  Christmas  was  placed  in 
the  tower  of  the  castle  of  Rouen. 


8.  When  Reason  Justifies  the  Will 

Villaret  says  of  the  captured  girl,  "Never  did 
the  victories  of  Crecy,  of  Poitiers,  or  of  Agincourt 
excite  such  transport:  the  feeling  of  the  people 
was  carried  even  to  a  frenzy  of  Joy." 

She  was  the  flag  of  a  cause,  captured  to  be  torn 


210 JOAN  OF  ARC 

and  destroyed  in  proof  of  the  might,  and  therefore 
of  the  right,  for  all  the  enemies  of  her  people. 

Graf  ton's  chronicles  of  those  times  represents 
the  view  of  her  enemies  concerning  her.  There  a 
detailed  description  is  given  of  the  capture  of  one 
"Jone  of  Puzeell,  known  as  the  Mayde  of  God," 
the  account  ending  with  her  being  sent  "to  the 
duke  of  Bedford  at  Roan,  where  after  a  long  ex- 
amen  she  was  brent  to  ashes." 

After  reciting  the  feats  accredited  to  her  by  the 
French,  the  chronicler  exclaims,  "0  Lorde,  what 
disprayse  is  this  to  the  nobilitie  of  Fraunce :  what 
blot  is  this  to  the  Frenche  nation:  what  more  re- 
buke can  be  amputed  to  a  renowned  reign,  than  to 
affirme,  write  and  confesse  that  all  notable  vic- 
tories, and  honorable  conquests,  which  neyther  the 
King  with  his  power,  nor  the  nobilitie  with  their 
valiantness,  nor  the  counsayle  with  their  witte,  nor 
the  commonaltie  with  their  strength,  could  corn- 
pa  sse  or  obtaine,  were  gotten  and  achieved  by  a 
shepherdes  daughter,  a  chamberlein  in  a  hostrie, 
and  a  beggar's  brat:  which  blinding  the  wittes  of 
the  Frenche  nation,  by  revelations,  dreams,  and 
phantasticalle  visions,  did  make  them  believe 
things  not  to  be  supposed,  and  to  geve  fayth  to  ad- 
ventures impossible." 

The  chronicler  in  rehearsing  what  followed  as  a 
result,  says  that,  "for  a  true  declaration  of  the 
falsitie  and  lewdnesse  of  her  doing,  she  was  taken 
before  the  byshop  and  the  universitie  of  Paris,  and 
was  there  with  solemnity  adjudged  and  con- 


EIGHT  AND  WRONG  211 

dempned  for  being  a  superstitious  sorceresse,  and 
a  devilishe  blasphemer es  of  God,  and  as  an  er- 
ronyous  wretch  was  consumed  with  fyre." 

After  discussing  the  folly  of  many  French  writ- 
ers who  believed  the  girl  a  saint  sent  from  God,  he 
offers  his  reasons  conclusively  proving,  according 
to  the  reasoning  of  his  time,  why  it  could  not  be 
so. 

•  "For  this  I  am  sure,"  he  emphatically  affirms, 
"that  all  auncient  wryters,  as  well  divine  as  pro- 
phane,  allege  these  three  things  besides  divers 
others,  to  apperteine  of  necessitie  to  a  good 
woman.  First,  shamefastnesse,  which  the  Ro- 
maine  ladies  so  kept,  that  seldom  or  never  were 
they  scene  openly  talking  to  a  man ;  which  great 
virtue  at  this  day  is  holden  amongst  the  Turkes 
highly  esteemed.  The  second  is  pittie:  which  in 
a  woman's  hart  abhorreth  the  spylling  of  the 
bloud  of  any  poore  beast,  or  siely  birde.  The 
thirde  is  womanly  behavior,  avoyding  the  occa- 
sion of  evill  judgment  and  the  causes  appertein- 
ing  to  slaunder." 

Then  the  chronicler  called  on  all  good  men  to 
witness,  "Where  was  her  shamefastnesse!"  For* 
the  second,  "Where  was  her  womanly  pittie,  when 
taking  to  her  the  hart  of  a  cruelle  beast,  slue  man, 
woman  and  childe,  whenever  she  might  have  the 
upper  hand."  But  worst  of  all,  "Where  was  her 
womanly  behaviour,  when  she  cladde  her  selfe  in 
a  man's  clothing,  and  was  conversaunt  with  every 


212 JOAN  OF  ARC 

losell,  geving  occasion  to  all  men  to  judge,  and 
speake  eville  of  her  doings!*' 

From  these  logical  conclusions,  he  decides  that 
"all  men  must  needes  confesse,  that  the  cause 
ceasing,  the  effect  also  ceaseth :  so  that  these  mo- 
ralle  virtues  being  lacking,  she  was  no  good 
woman,  then  it  must  needes  consequently  follow, 
that  she  was  no  saint." 

"O  logic!"  thus  many  a  martyr  might  have 
cried  with  Madam  Roland,  "how  many  crimes 
have  been  done  in  thy  name." 

With  such  irrefutable  reasoning  has  every  inci- 
dent of  man's  inhumanity  to  man  been  made  to 
satisfy  the  conscience  of  every  one  who  depends 
upon  thinking  from  premise  to  conclusion,  in 
which  self  is  the  sole  judge  of  the  moral  law  for 
the  rights  of  man. 

9.  Some  Glimpses  Into  the  Darkness  of  the  Times 

Out  of  the  mass  of  reminiscences  gathered  from 
witnesses  concerning  this  obscure  period  of  her 
captivity,  there  are  a  few  that  give  us  some  vision 
of  the  truth. 

That  there  was  not  lacking  at  the  time  a  popu- 
lar judgment  against  Charles  of  Valois,  may  be 
believed  from  a  letter  sent  the  King,  written  by 
the  Archbishop  of  Embrum. 

"I  beg  you,"  he  concludes  in  his  letter,  "for 
the  recovery  of  this  girl,  and,  for  the  ransom  of 
her  life,  spare  neither  effort  or  gold,  no  matter 


RIGHT  AND  WRONG  213 

at  what  price,  unless  you  would  incur  the  indelible 
shame  of  a  most  disgraceful  ingratitude." 

We  also  know  that  the  town  council  at  Tours  or- 
dered public  prayers  for  her  deliverance,  and  a 
procession  was  formed  in  which  the  clergy  walked 
bareheaded  through  the  town. 

From  far-off  Dauphiny  there  is  still  preserved 
the  prayer  in  which  it  was  said,  "  Almighty  and 
Everlasting  Lord  God,  who  of  Thine  own  un- 
speakable mercy  and  marvelous  goodness  hast 
caused  a  virgin  to  arise  for  the  uplifting  and  pres- 
ervation of  France,  and  for  the  confusion  of  its 
enemies,  and  hast  permitted  her  by  their  hands  to 
be  cast  into  prison,  as  she  labored  to  obey  Thy 
holy  commandments,  grant  unto  us,  we  beseech 
Thee,  that  she  may  be  delivered  from  their  power 
unhurt,  and  finally  accomplish  the  work  which 
Thou  hast  commanded  her  to  do." 

Loyalty  can  never  be  utterly  extinguished.  The 
uncertain  and  unreasonable  can  never  be  accepted 
or  maintained  as  certain  and  reasonable.  Unal- 
terable faith  means  unconquerable  soul.  All  the 
powerful  friends  of  this  faith-keeping  woman  de- 
serted her  in  the  time  of  defeat  even  as  the  1mm- 
ble  followers  deserted  Christ.  But,  in  the  flaming 
heights  of  conspicuous  contrast,  it  left  for  all  who 
have  eyes  to  see  the  almighty  meaning  of  faith 
as  the  measure  and  ideal  of  unconquerable  life. 


CHAPTER  XII 

"THE  TENDER  MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED 
ARE  CRUEL" 

1.  The  Way  of  the  Cross 

THE  awful  story  of  moral  incompetency,  when 
conscience  is  lodged  in  reason  or  in  the  collective 
will,  can  nowhere  be  clearer  seen  than  in  the  en- 
deavor to  bring  this  immortal  girl  to  a  logical,  le- 
gal and  justified  death.  The  greatest  system  of 
reasoning  then  in  the  world  served  by  the  most 
learned  doctors  of  arts  and  laws,  was  met  by 
such  an  infallible  simplicity  of  soul,  that  it  should 
have  put  to  shame  their  useless  and  worthless 
learning,  but  they  could  understand  her  only  as  a 
Satanic  prodigy  subverting  their  self-authorized 
mastery  as  the  delegated  agents  of  God.  All  the 
brutal  will  against  opposition  that  had  come  up 
out  of  the  struggle  of  man  was  brought  together 
here  in  the  most  hideous  monstrosity  of  reason- 
ing, done  to  one  who  deserved  it  least. 

Her  capture  was  believed  to  be  a  final  checkmate 
to  her  King  and  the  triumph  of  an  insurgent  polit- 
ical section  of  the  Catholic  organization  in 
Europe.  She  was  therefore  the  gage  of  battle  be- 
tween divisions  of  Europe  that  were  military,  po- 
litical, ecclesiastic  and  dynastic. 

214 


"MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED"   215 

Her  first  captors  had  some  of  the  instincts  of 
chivalrous  warriors,  for  they  were  acquainted 
with  her  knightly  character  and  her  noble  stand- 
ard of  warfare,  but,  as  she  was  transferred  here 
and  there,  on  down  the  line  toward  the  dungeon 
of  Rouen,  she  was  farther  and  farther  away  from 
the  enemies  who  respected  her  high  ideal  of  honor, 
and  was  deeper  and  deeper  among  the  perverted 
minds,  that  were  blackened  by  the  stories  against 
her  as  a  sorceress  and  a  witch. 

On  January  31, 1431,  the  English  owners  turned 
her  over  to  the  French  Inquisition  and  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  University  of  Paris.  Then  in  the 
dungeon  of  Rouen  began  the  world-shaking  proc- 
ess of  the  powers  of  evil  and  the  might  of  Europe 
against  this  peasant  girl  now  nineteen  years  of 
age,  and  yet,  not  less  than  five  centuries  older 
than  the  humanity  of  the  world. 

In  that  dungeon  was  one  of  the  bright  lights  of 
God,  and  around  it  with  all  the  wrath  of  beasts 
was  the  shame  and  folly  of  human  reason,  assum- 
ing to  be  the  guide  of  human  faith! 

The  desperately  brutal  treatment  imposed  on 
her  by  her  five  boorish  guards,  who  had  no  re- 
spect for  woman  nor  thought  of  God,  was  doubt- 
less to  break  her  spirit  and  force  some  confession 
to  be  used  against  her.  For  two  terrible  months 
three  of  the  five  men  were  always  with  her  in  the 
heavy  barred  cage  where  she  was  ironed  and  fet- 
tered like  a  beast. 

There  is  record  that  the  Duchess  of  Bedford 


216 JOAN  OF  ARC 

with  some  other  women  visited  her  cell  and  came 
away  testifying  that  Jeanne  was  an  honest  girl 
deserving  to  be  treated  as  such  by  her  guards.  A 
knowledge  of  the  violence  of  these  men  being  car- 
ried to  the  Earl  of  Warwick  in  England,  he  or- 
dered them  to  be  taken  away  and  others  placed  as 
guards,  but  these  new  guards  were  under  the 
same  head-keeper. 

It  is  recorded  also  that  she  was  visited  by  a 
party  consisting  of  Jean  de  Luxembourg,  who  had 
sold  her  to  the  English;  his  brother,  the  Bishop 
of  Therouenne ;  the  Earls  Stafford  and  Warwick, 
and  also  Haimond  de  Macy,  who  had  tried  hon- 
orably to  obtain  her  affection  and  make  her  his 
wife.  An  offer  was  made  to  ransom  her  if  she 
would  no  more  take  up  arms  for  France.  But 
Haimond  de  Macy  in  writing  of  it  says  that  she 
scorned  the  offer  as  mockery.  Then,  standing  up 
in  her  chains,  she  addressed  herself  to  Stafford 
and  Warwick,  "I  know  well  that  these  English 
will  do  me  to  death,  thinking  when  I  am  dead  to 
gain  the  Kingdom  of  France ;  but  if  they  were  a 
hundred  thousand  Godons  more  than  they  are 
now,  they  shall  never  have  France." 

It  is  said  that  Stafford  in  a  rage  drew  his  dag- 
ger, but  she  looked  him  down  as  was  told  of  her 
in  the  wonder-stories  of  her  childhood,  when  she 
faced  a  wolf  in  the  forests  of  Chesnu.  Warwick 
prevailed  on  Stafford  to  sheathe  his  dagger.  As  a 
noble  Earl  wanted  to  stab  her  to  death  though 


"MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED"    21? 

she  was  in  chains,  what  might  be  the  evil  deeds  of 
her  brutish  guard ! 

Chivalry  and  faith,  once  so  exalting  to  men, 
had  departed  from  knighthood,  and  the  greatest 
of  them  wanted  to  burn  one  of  the  bravest  and 
truest  warriors  that  ever  lived,  though  that  one 
was  a  woman  and  among  the  sweetest  Christians 
that  had  lived  since  Christ. 


2.  An  Allegiance  That  Could  Not  Be  Limited  by 
Any  Pledge  to  Men 

It  was  claimed  that  she  could  have  been  released 
from  her  chains  and  iron  cage  at  any  time,  if  she 
would  have  given  her  word  of  faith  that  she  would 
not  try  to  escape,  but  her  worst  enemies  used 
this  matchless  evidence  of  courage  and  character 
as  proof  of  depravity.  She  had  said  before  she 
was  dragged  from  her  horse,  at  her  capture,  that 
she  had  given  her  faith  to  God  and  would  not 
therefore  render  it  unto  any  man.  As  one  called 
of  God  in  the  service  of  God,  she  could  not  pledge 
her  conduct  for  any  exchange  of  comfort  or  con- 
venience. She  would  not  be  false  to  her  word  nor 
to  her  Lord,  the  King  of  Heaven. 

A  peasant  girl  coming  so  insistent  and  timely 
from  her  flocks  in  the  fields  of  Domremy,  who 
could  confound  the  most  learned  men  in  Europe 
with  her  answers  to  their  questions,  who  could 
lead  the  armies  of  France  to  victories  that  re- 
deemed her  natiop  in  seven  years  from  a  hundred 


218 JOAN  OF  ARC 

years'  war,  who  never  failed  to  turn  the  points 
of  the  most  astute  and  ruthless  inquisitors  in  the 
world,  is  not  to  be  explained  by  calling  her  the 
tool  of  politicians,  and  the  superstitious  idea  of 
demoniac  possession  has  long  since  been  aban- 
doned. Her  life  was  an  unceasing  struggle  against 
antagonism  and  her  wonderful  deeds  were  always 
not  only  against  overwhelming  opposition  but  de- 
spite intrigue,  envy,  treachery,  blocked  ways,  and 
the  least  support  that  could  be  given  by  her  su- 
periors in  authority. 

Of  the  visions  and  voices  of  Joan  of  Arc,  Grace 
James,  in  a  splendid  discussion,  says,  "  There  is 
in  the  idea  something  whimsical,  yet  fearful  and 
hair-lifting,  something  grotesque,  yet  appealing, 
humorous,  yet  weird.  It  seems  in  the  same  in- 
stant to  put  the  whole  thing  on  the  level  of  a  fairy- 
tale, and  to  inspire  it  with  the  most  convincing 
realism.  It  is  instinct  with  the  blending  of  fa- 
miliarity with  awe,  of  intimacy  with  worship, 
which  is  the  characteristic  feature  of  Medieval 
Christianity,  and  which  remains  even  now  the 
characteristic  feature  of  a  child's  religion.  It 
awakens  in  the  mind  associations  tender,  roman- 
tic, mysterious,  echoes  of  all  the  fresh,  sharp  won- 
der of  childhood,  the  high  faith  and  zest  of  life 
that  passes  away  so  soon." 

The  sublime  deeds  of  valor  were  hers  no  more. 
She  could  go  forth,  this  daughter  of  God,  under 
the  free,  wild  heavens  no  more  except  on  the  way 
to  the  martyr's  stake,  but  for  the  inspiration  in 


"MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED"    219 

faith  of  those  to  come,  she  was  glorified  in  the  soul 
of  man,  immortal  with  her  martyr's  crown. 

3.  The  Guilty  Giving  Justice  to  the  Innocent 

In  order  to  appreciate  the  faith  of  this  girl,  it 
should  be  remembered  that  the  martyrdom  of  men 
rarely  lasted  more  than  a  few  hours  or  days,  while 
hers  was  at  its  worst  for  more  than  six  months. 

This  young  girl  in  all  those  terrible  months 
never  saw  the  face  of  a  woman,  only  the  beastly 
leer  of  depraved  men  and  monstrous  priests. 

Joan,  weak  and  wracked  with  the  unspeakable 
torture  of  months,  was  dragged  chained  into  the 
great  hall  where  a  hundred  learned  doctors  of  the 
law,  surrounded  by  armed  men,  vied  with  one  an- 
other in  shouting  their  hate  at  her.  Alone,  with 
none  but  her  faith  in  God,  she  bore  their  assaults 
even  as  she  had  endured  her  beastly  keepers.  And 
in  the  midst  of  the  wild  shouts  around  her  from 
that  bedlam  of  vindictive  minds,  who  can  doubt 
that  she  felt  nearer  than  such  hate,  the  heavenly 
host  of  supporting  souls,  as  when  she  fought  by 
the  side  of  Aulon  at  Saint  Pierre,  and  won  the 
victory  in  the  name  of  her  Lord,  the  King  of 
Heaven. 

In  her  time,  no  one  presumed  to  doubt  that  she 
had  the  gift  of  superhuman  powers.  There  was 
then  no  faith  in  the  power  of  faith  that  is  right 
over  the  will  that  is  might.  The  only  question  was 
whether  it  was  of  God  or  Satan,  The  French 


220 JOAN  OF  ARC 

people  who  were  helped  by  her  work  believed 
faithfully  that  her  powers  were  of  God  in  proof 
of  which  she  used  those  powers  only  for  good; 
the  English,  Burgundians  and  traitorous  French, 
whose  fortunes  were  lessened  by  her  work,  be- 
lieved her  powers  were  of  Satan  in  proof  for 
which  she  used  those  powers  only  for  evil. 

Numerous  historical  prophecies  which  she 
made,  that  were  indisputably  recorded  at  the  time, 
all  came  true,  and  she  never  in  any  of  the  long 
intensely  artful  questions  of  her  enemies  contra- 
dicted herself  in  points  of  her  faith,  nor  said  any- 
thing proven  to  be  false,  according  to  her  inter- 
pretation of  divine  guidance  in  events.  If  there 
had  been  a  possible  contradiction  in  her  spirit  of 
truth,  the  learned  inquisitors  would  have  found 
it  and  made  the  most  of  it. 

The  Catholic  Encyclopedia  says,  "Throughout 
the  trial  Cauchon's  assessors  consisted  almost  en- 
tirely of  Frenchmen,  for  the  most  part  theologi- 
ans and  doctors  of  the  University  of  Paris." 

At  her  public  trial  there  were  always  fifty  or 
sixty  judges  present,  and  hundreds  of  the  most 
skillful  and  learned  men  in  Europe.  They  cross- 
examined  her  with  all  the  skill  of  trained  lawyers, 
endeavoring  to  break  her  down  or  wear  her  out, 
putting  her  through  every  detail  they  could  gather 
from  hundreds  of  witnesses  regarding  every  in- 
cident of  her  life. 

For  six  days  the  trial  was  carried  on  publicly 
and  then  suddenly  it  went  into  the  darkness  of 


"MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED"    221 

privacy,  with  two  witnesses  to  record  the  pro- 
ceedings and  two  judges  to  hear  the  trial.  Noth- 
ing but  the  most  beautiful  Christian  womanhood 
had  been  found,  so  perfect  that  all  the  merciless 
arts  of  her  learned  judges  could  not  find  a  fault. 
But  the  death  of  the  innocent  had  been  decreed 
and  it  must  not  fail. 


4.  Humcmity  Never  Entirely  Dead 

Lord  Roland  Gower,  in  his  study  of  Joan  of 
Arc,  says,  "Her  presence  of  mind  and  the  cour- 
age she  maintained  day  after  day  was  supreme, 
in  the  face  of  that  crowd  of  enemies  who  left  no 
stone  unturned,  no  subtlety  of  law  or  superstition 
unused,  to  bring  a  charge  of  guilt  against  her.  No 
victory  of  arms  that  Joan  of  Arc  might  have  ac- 
complished had  her  career  continued  one  bright 
and  unclouded  success,  could  have  shown  in  a 
grander  way  the  greatness  of  her  character  than 
her  answers  and  her  bearing  during  the  entire 
course  of  her  examinations  before  her  implacable 
enemies,  her  judicial  murderers." 

Though  she  was  under  the  English  government 
and  a  prisoner  to  English  masters,  her  trial  was 
conducted  almost  exclusively  by  renegade  French- 
men, who  were  chiefly  ecclesiastics  and  doctors  of 
theology  from  the  University  of  Paris.  It  was 
seen  at  the  beginning  of  the  sixth  day  that  a  re- 
action was  taking  place  in  the  minds  of  the  preju- 
diced and  misinformed  public.  One  of  the  three 


222 JOAN  OF  ARC 

witnesses  of  the  public  trial,  who  seems  to  have 
written  down  the  evidence  with  the  greatest  care, 
reported  in  his  notes  that  there  were  frequent  in- 
terruptions, at  last  becoming  so  noisy  that  the 
witnesses  could  not  hear  the  testimony. 

The  malicious  trap  was  often  detected  by  the 
audience  when  Joan  gave  back  some  of  her  brave 
refuting  replies.  Then  there  were  voices  in  the 
great  hall,  which  called  out,  "Well  spoken,  Joan, 
that  was  well  said !"  But  no  one  thought  to  ques- 
tion the  righteousness  or  authority  of  the  system. 

An  English  knight  declared  openly  that  he 
greatly  regretted  "such  a  courageous  maid  had 
not  been  born  an  English  woman.  She  would  not 
then  lack  for  defenders." 

She  had  no  one  to  advise  her  in  anything 
against  that  appalling  mass  of  enemies  hunting 
her  down  like  an  animal  beset  by  wolves.  There 
was  no  one  to  give  a  word  of  encouragement,  hope 
or  support  except  the  sublime  faith  that  gave  her 
such  sublime  character. 

One  of  the  members  of  the  hideous  Inquisition 
was  Isambard  de  la  Pierre,  and  he  tried  to  show 
La  Pucelle  a  little  pity.  He  sat  near  her  when- 
ever he  could  and  by  nudging  her  or  touching  her 
arm,  showed  her  his  opinion  of  what  she  should 
or  should  not  do  for  her  own  sake. 

But  her  master-inquisitor  Cauchon,  with  the 
vigilance  of  an  evil  eye,  saw  him  and  reported 
it  to  Warwick.  That  noble  Earl  hastened  over 
to  the  offender  and  in  the  most  abusive  terms  in- 


"MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED"    223 

formed  him  that  he  would  be  tied  in  a  sack  and 
dropped  in  the  Seine  if  he  dared  befriend  the  girl 
again. 

5.  Religion  in  the  Mmds  of  Hate 

Day  by  day  she  was  unfastened  from  the  beam 
in  her  cage  to  which  she  was  chained  and  was 
taken  to  her  torture  chair  in  the  judicial  inquisi- 
tion. Every  time  she  passed  the  door  of  the  prison 
chapel  she  plead  to  be  allowed  a  moment  of  wor- 
ship as  she  had  been  accustomed  all  her  life,  and 
which  was  allowed  to  every  criminal  that  had 
ever  been  there,  but  in  sacrilegious  cruelty  she 
was  never  allowed  any  chance  for  consolation 
from  the  service  of  her  religion.  One  day  as  they 
passed  she  asked  one  of  the  Sheriffs  if  she  might 
kneel  in  the  chapel  door.  He  was  humane  enough 
to  allow  her,  but  when  Cauchon  heard  of  this, 
word  soon  came  to  the  Sheriff  that  another  such 
act  of  kindness  to  the  prisoner  and  he  would  spend 
his  days  in  "a  prison  where  no  light  of  the  sun 
or  moon  should  appear." 

John  Lohier,  one  of  the  Commissioners  who  was 
a  learned  lawyer  of  considerable  renown,  was  con- 
sulted on  some  point  by  Cauchon,  and  in  the  con- 
versation he  declared  to  the  prosecuting  bishop 
that  the  entire  trial  was  illegal,  null  and  void,  not 
only  because  it  was  secret,  but  because  the  ac- 
cused was  without  benefit  of  counsel.  Cauchon, 
greatly  fearing  the  influence  of  such  a  man,  hur- 
ried to  Warwick  to  have  the  lawyer  silenced.  Lo- 


224 JOAN  OF  ARC 

hier  immediately  resigned  as  a  Commissioner.  He 
freely  expressed  himself  in  the  opinion  that  the 
great  council  of  doctors  at  law  were  driving  a 
young  ignorant  girl  to  the  martyr's  stake  on  noth- 
ing more  important  than  a  grammatical  distinc- 
tion. He  explained  that  the  grammatical  defini- 
tion on  which  they  were  condemning  her  was  be- 
tween the  words  ''believe"  and  "appear."  He 
very  boldly  pointed  out  the  merciless  advantage 
they  were  taking  of  the  innocent  peasant  girl  in 
these  recorded  words,  "If,  instead  of  affirming 
that  she  believes  her  visions  to  be  real,  she  would 
have  said,  as  equally  true,  that  they  appeared  so 
to  her,  she  could  never  be  condemned. ' ' 

Considering  the  fierce  distinctions  forced  upon 
her  in  the  subsequent  course  of  the  trial  and  the 
fidelity  with  which  she  held  to  her  belief,  it  is  not 
at  all  certain  that  any  counsel  given  her  would 
have  caused  her  to  say  "appeared"  when  she 
meant  "believed." 

The  success  of  their  will  for  her  condemnation 
could  not  allow  any  man's  reason  to  interfere. 
Lohier  was  arrested  on  some  pretext  and  impris- 
oned. He  escaped  and  saved  his  life  by  leaving 
France.  He  arrived  at  Eome  and  was  at  once 
taken  into  the  service  of  the  Pope.  This  is  strong 
evidence  that  the  Pope  had  no  friendship  for  the 
French-Burgundian-English  condition  of  the 
Church.  Doubtless  the  report  on  that  faction 
which  he  gave  the  Pope  was  so  reasonable  that 
it  had  much  to  do  with  giving  justice  at  last  to  the 


"MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED"    225 

sublime  character  of  La  Pucelle.  It  was  partisan- 
ship in  the  cause  of  will  that  fulfilled  its  wolfish 
nature  upon  her,  and  their  evil  can  not  be  charged 
against  any  religious  meaning  in  the  name  of  faith 
whose  fulfillment  is  the  hope  of  a  social  world. 
Intelligence  is  the  light  of  faith  as  faith  is  the  in- 
telligence that  trusts  the  system  of  a  normal  uni- 
verse. 


6.  The  Dark  Silence  That  Fell  Over  France 

Joan  of  Arc,  shorn  of  all  external  power,  was 
now  helpless  in  the  hands  of  political  and  relig- 
ious fanatics,  and,  divested  of  all  human  rights, 
was  now  their  property  according  to  international 
custom  and  claims,  subject  absolutely  to  the  judg- 
ment and  will  of  church  and  state. 

At  her  capture  a  great  silence  fell  upon  France 
concerning  her  whose  name  had  been  the  highest 
among  names  all  over  the  world.  Somehow  the 
exalted  belief  in  her  must  have  been  struck  dumb 
by  this  unbelievable  capture.  She  could  save  oth- 
ers but  herself  she  could  not  save.  Just  such  a  si- 
lence fell  all  over  the  valleys  of  Jordan  and  the 
plains  around  Jerusalem  when  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
fell  into  the  power  of  the  Eoman  law.  One  of 
his  best-beloved  disciples  denied  him  thrice  at  the 
mere  mention  by  a  servant  that  he  knew  the  man 
who  had  lost  his  power  to  the  soldiers  of  Rome. 
The  saintly  maid,  hailed  as  the  Savior  of  France, 
this  Daughter  of  God,  had  failed  and  therefore 


226 JOAN  OF  ARC 

might  be  merely  a  witch.  Verily,  she  hath  an  evil 
spirit!  It  was  the  usual  sin  against  the  Holy 
Ghost  of  Faith,  which  hath  no  forgiveness.  Hu- 
man conscience  had  then  no  inner  witness  to  any 
truth. 

Besides,  the  Church,  incapable  of  injustice,  was 
supposed  to  be  doing  well  by  her.  A  Council  of 
one  hundred  or  more  of  the  most  learned  men  in 
Europe  were  patiently  sifting  out  every  atom  of 
evidence  in  order  to  give  her  justice.  There  is 
here  a  possibility  of  explaining  the  King  and  such 
commanding  generals  as  Dunois,  Alen§on,  and  La 
Hire.  They  may  not  have  known  that  she  was 
suffering  such  hideous  torture,  chained  from 
throat  to  feet  to  a  pillar  in  an  iron  cage  with 
drunken  troopers.  They  may  have  thought  that 
she  was  being  cared  for  by  the  Church  and  given 
such  a  trial  by  the  most  learned  conclave  in  all 
history,  as  to  vindicate  her  and  establish  the  right- 
eousness of  France.  But  this  is  almost  too  much 
to  believe,  as  they  must  have  known  the  tender 
mercies  of  the  cruel,  and  that  the  lamb  of  faith 
was  captive  to  the  wolves  of  will.  But  let  it  be  un- 
derstood that  these  were  afterward,  with  the  ut- 
most thoroughness,  by  the  highest  authority,  to- 
tally repudiated  as  being  the  church.  They  were 
an  ecclesiastical  party,  sold  to  a  political  party 
having  no  divine  grace  to  sanctify  their  claim.  But 
it  may  well  be  believed  that  the  world  stood  in 
awe  of  them  as  the  apostolic  representatives  of 


God,  while  this  Domremy  girl  had  nothing  to 
prove  her  claims  but  deeds  of  valor. 

Strong  men  often  break  down,  body  and  mind, 
under  the  cross-examination  of  attorneys  in  a  few 
days,  but  here  was  a  girl  through  a  year's  hard 
soldiering,  and  months  of  enervating  imprison- 
ment, who  endures  and  replies  to  the  incessant 
wits  of  malignant  wills  day  after  day  for  months, 
at  last  to  be  harried  and  badgered  unbroken  to 
the  martyr's  stake.  The  faith  that  carried  her 
to  the  King  and  Orleans  was  indeed  surpassing 
wonderful,  and  the  faith  that  won  great  battles  is 
yet  far  more  wonderful,  but  beyond  all  wonder  is 
the  faith-power,  unsurpassable  in  history,  with 
which  she  endured  the  martyrdom  of  months  end- 
ing in  the  red  death  at  the  stake. 

7.  The  Egocentric  Reasoning  of  Partisans 

The  freak  of  partisan  reasoning  and  the  futility 
of  the  party  mind  are  well  illustrated  in  the  severe 
grill  they  put  Joan  of  Arc  through  concerning 
Franquet  d 'Arras,  who  had  been  executed  at 
Lagny.  He  was  a  Burgundian  raider,  the  leader 
of  a  band  of  freebooters,  who  had  lain  in  wait 
for  her  when  she  was  on  her  way  from  Melun  to 
Lagny,  and  through  her  incalculable  strategy  had 
been  captured.  She  had  allowed  him  to  be  tried 
for  his  crimes  and  executed.  This  had  been  done 
on  the  demands  of  the  officers  of  her  party.  They 
claimed  that  she  had  no  right  to  interfere  with 


228  JOAN  OF  ARC 

the  usual  death-penalty  given  to  one  who  did  not 
govern  his  deeds,  according  to  the  rules  of  hon- 
orable war.  But  to  her  inquisitors  such  a  breech 
of  their  claims  to  the  rights  of  military  law  was 
a  crime  to  be  held  against  her.  He  should  have 
been  kept  for  ransom  or  to  be  exchanged.  But 
here  was  this  woman  warrior  guiltless  of  that 
man's  evil  deeds,  whom  they  were  hounding  to  her 
death,  regardless  of  the  honor  of  priest,  man  or 
war. 

Several  of  her  most  devoted  followers  had  been 
roving  freebooters,  hardly  less  considerate  of  mili- 
tary honor  than  Franquet  d' Arras,  but,  among 
the  wonders  of  her  influence,  they  had  become 
chivalrous  and  knightly  in  the  ennobling  service 
of  La  Pucelle.  Among  these  reformed  warriors, 
perhaps  the  most  widely  known  was  La  Hire.  He 
loyally  believed  in  the  strategy  of  the  warrior 
woman,  and,  being  a  master  of  military  tactics 
himself,  his  testimony  stands  well  for  the  military 
genius  of  the  wonderful  woman.  Yet,  sometimes, 
when  she  undertook  to  accomplish  the  impossible, 
as  it  appeared  to  him,  he  swore  by  his  Martin- 
baton,  but  a  word  from  her  made  the  impossible 
look  easy,  and  it  was  done.  As  an  instance,  when 
La  Hire  followed  her  reluctantly  at  the  assault  on 
Jargeau,  she  cried  out  to  him,  "Fear  not.  God's 
time  is  the  right  time.  When  He  wills  it,  you 
must  open  the  attack.  Go  forward,  he  will  pre- 
pare the,  way. ' '  And  they  took  that  strongly  for- 
tified town  with  the  loss  of  only  twenty  men. 


"MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED"    229 

La  Hire  had  been  famous  throughout  France 
and  Bungundy  for  his  brutal  rapacity  and  no  less 
savage  wit,  but  he  was  the  only  one  who  could 
meet  with  equal  ferocity  the  hideous  atrocities 
of  the  Burgundian  freebooters.  However,  in  the 
midst  of  the  desolation  and  misery,  this  bold  cav- 
alryman and  raider  had  always  been  known  as  a 
typical  jolly  brigand  of  the  Armagnacs.  He  it  was 
who,  at  the  beginning  of  every  pillaging  expedition 
against  the  Burgundians,  prayed  "Good  Lord,  I 
pray  Thee,  deal  with  La  Hire  as  he  would  deal 
with  Thee  were  he  God  and  wert  Thou  La  Hire." 
He  was  desperately  impious,  but  after  meeting 
Joan,  he  never  swore  except  by  his  staff. 

8.  Incidents  from  One  of  the  Few  Great  Trials 

La  Pucelle,  just  past  nineteen,  weak  and  weary 
from  nine  months  of  harrowing  treatment,  enough 
to  break  body  and  mind,  was  brought  out  to  face 
the  most  learned  body  of  men  in  the  world,  sur- 
rounded by  those  who  declared  her  to  be  the  wick- 
edest and  vilest  of  all  creatures.  Their  unceasing 
endeavor  was  to  betray  her  into  some  pitfall  in 
her  religion  upon  which  they  could  condemn  her  to 
death.  It  was  her  faith  she  was  defending  in  the 
name  of  her  soul's  responsibility  to  God,  and  this 
was  the  sincerity  of  her  mission  and  her  life. 

When  one  of  her  inquisitors  became  worn  out 
in  the  strain  of  trying  to  entrap  her,  another 
would  take  his  place.  They  had  her  mind  on  the 


230 JOAN  OF  ARC 

torture  rack,  and  in  striving  to  break  it  were 
themselves  broken. 

Once  she  turned  suddenly  to  Cauchon,  so  that 
he  recoiled  from  her  words,  "You  say  that  you  are 
my  judge.  Have  a  care  what  you  do  I  I  am  sent 
from  God  and  you  put  yourself  in  great  peril. ' ' 

Fearful,  after  the  Lawyer  Lohier  had  reached 
Borne,  lest  there  would  be  cause  to  declare  her 
trial  illegal,  Bishop  Cauchon  offered  her  a  chance, 
when  the  trial  was  almost  ended,  to  call  some  one 
to  her  assistance  as  counsellor,  but  she  told  him 
that  she  had  no  need  of  human  counsel  as  all  her 
trust  was  in  the  Lord.  Then,  after  some  reflec- 
tion, she  said,  "  First,  as  to  what  you  admonish 
me  for  my  good,  I  thank  you  and  all  the  com- 
pany. As  to  the  counsel  you  offer  me,  I  thank  you 
too,  but  I  have  no  intention  of  departing  from  the 
counsel  of  God."  Cauchon  told  her  that  she  could 
go  to  mass,  if  she  would  put  on  women's  clothing, 
but  she  replied  that  her  clothing  was  the  symbol 
of  her  mission.  She  had  been  told  to  put  this 
clothing  on  by  her  Lord  and  had  not  yet  been  told 
to  return  to  woman's  apparel. 

No  one  can  appreciate  the  unspeakable  torture 
of  soul  to  which  she  was  subjected  without  con- 
sidering her  life-long  belief  in  the  power  of  the 
Church.  All  else  failed  her  inquisitors  down  to 
the  last  test,  which  was,  would  she  submit  her  mis- 
sion to  the  judgment  of  the  Church !  But  she  knew 
that  the  Church  in  this  case  was  a  fragment  rep- 
resented by  Count  Cauchon.  She  begged  to  have 


"MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED"    281 

her  case  taken  before  the  Pope.  But  the  fragment 
would  not  lose  its  victim  by  having  its  cause  trans- 
ferred to  the  head.  The  choice  between  the  soul 
in  its  immediate  relation  with  God,  and  whether 
that  relation  must  be  through  the  priest  in  the 
name  of  the  Church,  was  here  at  its  test,  clear  and 
unmistakable  as  anywhere  in  all  the  long,  terrible, 
historic  struggle  for  freedom  of  conscience  and 
liberty  of  the  soul. 

Cauchon  warned  her  that  unless  she  submitted 
she  would  be  abandoned  by  the  Church,  thus  los- 
ing her  soul  through  temporal  fire  into  eternal 
damnation. 

But  he  could  not  thus  crush  her.  "You  can  not 
do  to  me  as  you  say/'  she  declared,  " without  evil 
befalling  you  both  body  and  soul." 

The  dreadful  torture  of  soul  and  body  before 
the  judges  and  in  her  lonely  dungeon  at  the  hands 
of  beastly-minded  keepers,  at  last  threw  her  into 
a  fever  in  which  she  expected  to  die,  but  the  tor- 
ture went  on  as  if  it  were  a  better  opportunity 
to  break  her  faith  and  mind, 
i  "Considering  how  sick  I  am,"  she  said  to  Cau- 
chon, "it  seems  to  me  that  I  am  in  great  peril  of 
death.  If  so  be  that  God  wills  to  do  his  pleas- 
ure on  me,  I  beg  of  you  to  let  me  be  confessed, 
and  receive  my  Savior,  and  be  buried  in  conse- 
crated ground." 

Cauchon  told  her,  with  fiendish  piety,  it  could 
not  be  so  unless  she  submitted  to  the  Church. 
1     "If  my  body  dies  in  prison,"  she  said,  "I  de- 


232 JOAN  OF  ARC 

pend  upon  your  placing  it  in  consecrated  ground ; 
if  you  do  not  so,  I  leave  it  all  with  my  Lord. ' ' 

Thus  spoke  the  daughter  of  God  against  all  hu- 
man will  to  control  faith  or  to  deny  its  right  be- 
tween the  soul  and  its  Maker.  Her  life  was  in 
tune  with  the  Infinite  and  her  soul  way  stayed  on 
God. 


9.  Powers  That  Kill  the  Body  and  Destroy  the 

Soul 

La  Pucelle  was  taken  in  her  weak  and  worn 
condition  of  fever  and  distress  to  the  chamber  of 
horrors  for  torture.  The  wretch  who  was  to  tor- 
ture her  gave  his  testimony  that  her  answers  to 
the  questions  of  the  assessors  so  amazed  them 
that  they  were  afraid  to  place  her  on  the  rack. 
Their  statement  of  the  reasons  why  they  brought 
her  back  without  torture  bear  out  the  impression 
that  they  were  afraid  she  would  die  without  con- 
fession and  thus  escape  them. 

As  to  schemes  and  treachery  the  most  infamous 
act  was  that  of  Loiseleur,  a  priest  who  was  put 
into  her  cell  as  a  prisoner.  He  told  her  he  was 
from  near  her  old  home  and  that  he  was  impris- 
oned because  of  his  love  for  the  French  King. 
She  believed  in  him  enough  to  enter  into  confes- 
sion to  him.  Warwick  and  Cauchon  hid  them- 
selves where  they  could  hear  the  confession,  but 
the  Maid  had  nothing  to  confess  more  than  the 
faith  of  the  pure  and  the  true.  The  sacrilegious 


"MERCIES  OF  THE  WICKED"    233 

treachery  gained  them  nothing,  excepting  that,  by 
Loiseleur's  advice,  she  answered  questions  that 
she  would  otherwise  have  avoided. 

In  all  the  history  of  the  world,  there  has  never 
been  such  a  systematic  and  scholarly  attempt  to 
make  history  and  therewith  to  blacken  the  char- 
acter of  an  innocent  person,  and  never  was  there 
a  more  ignominious  failure  to  foist  such  black 
falsehood  upon  the  world.  Not  the  Maid  of  Or- 
leans but  her  calumniators  are  anathema  among 
the  truth-loving  people  of  the  earth.  Her  faith 
and  character  survive  as  immortal  truth.  So  it 
was  as  the  poet  said : 

"Truth  crushed  to  earth  shall  rise  again. 
The  eternal  years  of  God  are  hers." 

When  the  long  list  of  horrifying  falsehoods  was 
read  to  her  at  the  end  of  the  trial  as  the  decision 
of  her  judges,  she  said  in  sublime  simplicity,  "As 
to  my  acts,  I  submit  them  to  the  Church  in  Heav- 
en, to  God,  to  the  Holy  Virgin,  and  to  the  Saints 
in  Paradise.  I  have  not  failed  in  the  Christian 
religion,  nor  will  I  ever  do  so." 

And  praise  to  the  Creator  of  heaven  and  earth, 
she  proved  from  the  fields  of  Domremy  all  the  way 
to  her  ashes  in  Rouen  for  every  distressed  soul 
and  to  every  one  fighting  wrong,  that  there  can 
be  such  faith  and  such  character,  against  which 
all  the  powers  of  hell  can  not  prevail. 

As  one  hideous  crime  after  another  was  pro- 


234     JOAN  OF  ARC 

claimed  against  her,  in  that  death's  court,  and  the 
loud  demand  made  of  guilty  or  not  guilty,  she  said 
that  she  had  replied  to  all  the  charges,  and  now, 
"I  refer  myself  to  my  Savior." 

When  one  of  her  statements  was  read  to  her, 
which  was  worded  thus,  "All  that  I  have  done 
has  been  done  by  the  advice  of  my  Savior,"  she 
stopped  the  clerk  and  corrected  him,  saying  that 
he  had  left  out  the  word  "well"  after  the  words 
"have  done."  So  exact  were  all  her  answers. 
But  the  infamous  executioners  were  determined 
on  her  death  for  no  other  reason,  and  for  no  other 
crime,  than  that  she  faithfully  obeyed  a  loyal  con- 
science as  the  voice  of  God,  and  served  her  great 
pity  for  France  in  the  name  of  a  righteous  hu- 
manity. 

Bourguignon,  long  ago  in  his  poems,  calls  her 
"The  most  beautiful  flower  of  Christianity."  Si- 
meon Luce  describes  her  as  the  personification  of 
France  at  its  best,  and  he  says, ' '  There  never  was 
a  heart  more  strong  or  pure  and  from  it  the  love 
of  country  was  vibrating  eternally  in  her  soul." 
Truly  it  may  be  believed  that  she  was  also  one 
of  the  world's  greatest  patriots. 


CHAPTER 
GLIMPSES  OF  THE  INQUISITION 

1.  The  Will  of  the  Cat  and  the  Song  of  the  Bird 

THE  supreme  idea  of  the  prisoner's  faith  is  re- 
vealed in  a  conclusive  answer  she  gave  to  her  in- 
quisitors in  the  last  days  of  the  trial  as  to  what 
the  angels  first  taught  her. 

She  said,  that,  "Above  all  things  I  was  to  be  a 
good  girl,  that  God  would  help  me,  and  that  I 
must  go  to  the  aid  of  the  Dauphin  of  France, 
for  God  showed  me  the  great  pity  there  was  for 
the  Kingdom  of  France." 

What  human  inquisitor  would  not  break  down 
there  and  cry  out  that  she  was  guiltless  of  any 
urge  to  crime.  Only  the  partisan  could  thus  have 
steeled  his  heart  against  the  divine  love  she  had 
to  help  bring  peace  to  the  people  of  her  distressed 
and  ruined  country.  The  truth  is  that  under  their 
partisan  mail  of  iron  they  could  not  feel  the  di- 
vine touch.  Mercy  is  not  an  attribute  of  will.  It 
belongs  only  to  faith. 

The  maidenly  innocence  of  this  precious  girl, 
that  should  have  struck  dumb  her  ruthless  tor- 
mentors, flashes  in  a  glimpse  to  us  as  they  talked 
to  her  about  whether  she  would  be  burned  at  the 

235 


236 JOAN  OF  ARC 

stake  in  her  warrior  clothing,  and  why  it  was  that 
she  wanted  a  woman's  dress.  Her  answer  was 
that  she  would  be  satisfied  "if  her  dress  was  only 
long."  Had  not  her  soul  been  burnt  with  the 
leering,  staring  eyes  of  the  drunken  brutes  who 
had  been  her  keepers  through  the  terrible  months ! 
Why  did  not  this  group  of  pious  men  ranged 
round  her  feel  their  wills  totter  on  the  wicked 
foundations  before  the  childhood  innocence  in 
this  simple,  patient,  enduring  faith  of  the  Daugh- 
ter of  God?  It  was  because  their  souls  had  been 
sold  to  a  partisan  cause.  They  could  neither  feel 
nor  reason  from  anything  born  of  faith,  hope  or 
love.  Their  patriotism  and  their  religion  were 
limited  to  the  bounds  of  their  will  and  to  the  area 
of  their  personal  interests. 

Once  upon  a  time  some  men  learned  in  the  law 
sought  to  ensnare  the  Son  of  God,  concerning  the 
doctrine  of  John  the  Baptist.  And  they  greatly 
feared,  for  they  could  not  say  it  was  of  heaven 
because  he  would  ask  why  they  had  not  believed, 
and  they  could  not  say  of  men  because  they  feared 
the  friends  of  John. 

So  these  Pharisees  of  the  Church,  near  the  close 
of  the  trial,  these  partisans  of  a  special  cause, 
these  fragments  of  broken  reason,  thought  to  en- 
trap her,  with  a  question  of  history  whose  event 
happened  before  her  time. 

They  said,  speaking  of  an  act  in  the  reign  of  the 
previous  King,  * i  Did  your  King  do  well  to  kill  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy?"  She  answered,  "It  was  a 


great  misfortune  to  France,  but  however  it  might 
be,  God  sent  me  to  aid  the  King  to  his  throne. ' ' 

"Does  God  hate  the  English?"  was  one  of  their 
futile  searches  for  a  morsel  of  heresy.  As  to  what 
God  felt  toward  the  English,  she  said  that  she 
knew  nothing,  but  this  she  knew,  God  wanted  them 
driven  out  of  France  and  that  He  would  do  it 
soon. 

During  the  trial  her  learned  questioners  came 
to  the  witch  stories  that  prevailed  in  her  native 
village  of  Domremy.  It  seemed  to  take  her  back 
to  the  scenes  of  her  childhood  so  vividly  that  she 
forgot  her  fear  of  the  cruel  masters  listening  eag- 
erly for  any  word  they  might  twist  against  her. 

Bishop  Baupere  suddenly  asked  as  he  saw  the 
weary  girl  sink  into  memories,  "Jeanne,  would 
you  like  to  have  a  woman's  dress  again?" 

In  the  kindly  spoken  words  she  was  a  little  girl 
again. 

"Give  me  one,"  she  cried  appealingly,  "I  will 
put  it  on  and  go  home  to  my  mother." 

Then  she  saw  only  the  wolfish  stare  from  the 
brutal  faces  about  her  and  she  quickly  added, 
"But  I  could  not  put  it  on  here.  I  am  content 
with  this,  since  God  is  pleased  that  I  wear  it. ' ' 

2.  The  Unprotected  Prey  of  the  Wolf-Pack 

The  two  witnessing  clerks,  in  their  report  of  the 
secret  trial,  show  that  every  device  of  sharp  in- 
genuity was  used  on  her  to  get  from  her  the  secret 


238 JOAN  OF  ARC 

sign  by  which  it  was  said  that  King  Charles  came 
to  have  confidence  in  her  as  one  sent  from  God. 
All  trickery  of  questioning  being  unavailing,  Dela- 
fontaine  asked  her  the  question  direct,  "What  is 
the  sign  that  came  to  your  King  to  make  him  be- 
lieve you  were  sent  on  the  part  of  God?" 

"It  is  beautiful  and  honorable  and  much  to  be 
believed,"  was  the  enigmatical  answer,  "and  it 
is  good,  and  the  richest  that  can  be." 

Nicolas  Loiseleur,  the  perfidious  priest,  who 
had  been  sent  to  hear  confession  from  her,  so  as 
to  advise  her  into  a  trap  laid  to  ensnare  her,  suc- 
ceeded far  enough,  to  get  a  thread  of  evidence 
which  they  could  weave  into  their  monstrous  per- 
versions for  conviction.  She  saw  the  thread  she 
had  been  betrayed  into  giving,  and  which  they 
were  now  winding  about  her,  and  she  struggled 
with  piteous  endeavor  to  say  nothing  but  the  truth 
and  yet  not  uncover  the  sign  she  had  promised  her 
saints  not  to  disclose. 

The  Dominican  Isambard,  in  his  sworn  testi- 
mony, said,  "The  questions  put  to  her  were  too 
difficult,  subtle  and  captious;  so  much  so  that  the 
high  ecclesiastical  and  well-lettered  men,  who 
were  present,  would  with  great  difficulty  them- 
selves have  known  how  to  answer  them." 

Yet  Jeanne  quickly  answered  every  one  with  a 
directness,  simplicity  and  wisdom  that  took  speech 
out  of  the  mouths  of  her  inquisitors  and  left  them 
dumb  on  that  subject. 
•     The  University  of  Paris,  in  writing  their  de- 


GLIMPSES  OF  INQUISITION    239 

fense  to  the  King  and  the  Pope,  said,  "The  Chris- 
tian fold  in  almost  the  whole  West  is  infected  with 
the  poison  of  the  Maid." 

What  a  joke  that  is  on  egomaniac  learning,  what 
a  travesty  on  reason,  what  a  sarcasm  on  author- 
ity, and  what  a  high  tribute  to  the  people  who 
loved  this  daughter  of  God ! 

She  strove  to  defeat  her  cruel  questioners  by 
trying  to  throw  them  off  the  track.  But  like  a 
pack  of  wolves,  they  came  back.  They  were  shrewd 
enough  to  discover  her  attempts  and  in  turn  they 
endeavored  to  throw  her  into  verbal  contradic- 
tions made  by  her  evasions  and  allegorical  state- 
ments. 

"Does  the  sign  still  continue?"  asked  the 
Bishop. 

"It  is  good  to  know  that  it  does,"  she  replied. 
"It  will  last  a  thousand  years  or  more;  and  it  is 
in  the  King's  treasury." 

A  study  of  her  desperate  attempt  to  protect 
this  one  sacred  secret  shows  that  the  "King's 
treasury"  mentioned  by  her  was  figurative,  mean- 
ing the  treasury  of  the  King  of  Heaven,  but  in 
this  material  thing  the  hair-splitting  questioners 
located  the  existence  of  idolatry. 

"Is  it  gold,  silver,  precious  stones  or  a  crown?" 
Delafontaine  asked. 

"I  shall  tell  you  no  more  about  it,"  she  replied 
as  if  fearful  of  what  he  meant  to  fasten  on  her. 
' '  No  man  could  know  how  to  imagine  anything  so 
rich." 


240 JOAN  OF  ARC 

This  was  the  imagery  of  a  child,  the  wonder- 
child  of  spiritual  faith. 

"What  reverence  did  you  make  to  the  sign?" 
was  the  next  question  intended  to  incriminate  her 
in  idolatry. 

"I  knelt  and  uncovered  my  head,"  she  rever- 
ently and  innocently  answered,  "and  I  thanked 
Our  Lord  because  he  had  delivered  me  from  the 
obstacles  of  the  churchmen  arguing  to  the  King 
against  me." 

3.  The  Sign  and  the  Allegory 

On  Monday,  March  12,  two  doctors  of  canon- 
law  were  made  transcribing  witnesses  to  take 
down  her  words.  These  two  men,  with  probably 
a  dozen  others,  the  Bishop  and  Delafontaine,  went 
to  continue  the  questioning  of  her  in  the  prison. 

She  expressed  herself  faithful  in  the  belief  that 
her  Lord  had  never  failed  her. 

"Did  He  not  fail  you  as  to  good  fortune  when 
you  were  captured?"  he  asked. 

"Not  so,"  she  replied,  "since  it  pleased  Our 
Lord,  that  it  was  better  that  I  should  be  taken." 

"Has  He  not  failed  you  in  gifts  of  grace?" 

"How  so!"  she  answered  fervently,  "when  He 
comforts  me  every  day." 

Then  they  tried  to  entangle  her  as  to  disobey- 
ing the  commandment  to  honor  father  and  mother. 

"Was  it  well  to  set  forth  without  leave  of  your 


GLIMPSES  OF  INQUISITION    241 

father  and  mother!  Is  it  thus  father  and  mother 
should  be  honored?" 

"They  have  forgiven  me,"  she  humbly  replied. 

"Did  you  know  not  you  were  sinning  when  you 
left  them?" 

"Since  God  commanded,  it  was  right  to  do  it," 
she  replied  spiritedly.  "Because  God  command- 
ed, if  I  had  had  a  hundred  fathers  and  a  hundred 
mothers,  and  if  I  had  been  the  daughter  of  kings, 
I  must  have  gone." 

The  next  day  was  spent  trying  again  to  force 
from  her  the  secret  of  her  sign.  All  else  had  failed 
so  that  even  resourceful  and  pitiless  enemies 
could  not  fasten  anything  upon  her.  Like  Pontius 
Pilate  they  heard  the  evidence  and  even  their  bru- 
tal tongues  could  not  say  the  word  guilty.  But 
the  sign!  What  was  it?  Here  was  something 
that  looked  like  idolatry  and  therefore  heresy. 
Throughout  all  that  hideous  darkness  of  her  in- 
quisition, her  words  were  written  down  by  those 
seeking  to  destroy  her,  and  were  never  seen  or  re- 
vised by  her.  We  get  a  glimpse  of  that  fatal  day 
in  one  of  the  written  sentences  wherein  she  pite- 
ously  complains  of  being  condemned  by  her  judges 
to  perjure  herself  in  her  promise  to  the  saints 
that  she  would  not  tell  the  sign.  What  torture  she 
had  to  undergo  no  one  can  know,  but,  to  mislead 
her  inquisitors,  she  told  a  long  allegory  in  which 
the  meaning  of  the  story  of  the  sign  was  supposed 
to  be  somewhere  concealed,  but  none  can  know 
what  it  was.  The  storv  she  told  to  satisfy  them 


242 JOAN  OF  ARC 

reads  like  a  child  telling  a  fairy  tale  woven  out 
of  some  semblance  of  experience;  And  yet,  it 
bears  the  marks  of  her  torture  trying  to  be  true 
to  herself  and  to  her  saints  not  to  tell  untruth, 
even  as  she  endeavored  to  satisfy  her  merciless 
inquisitors. 

Out  of  her  allegory  of  the  sign,  the  facts  were 
taken  by  her  inquisitors  that  an  angel  had  brought 
the  King  a  crown  of  fine  gold  so  rich  that  no  one 
could  count  its  richness,  and  signified  to  him  that 
he  should  recover  his  kingdom  of  France. 

We  may  believe  that  story,  as  told  by  her,  to  be 
actual  happenings  which  she  was  describing  as 
truth,  and  thus  was  really  perjuring  herself  to 
her  saints,  as  the  judges  decided,  or  we  can  be- 
lieve that  the  angel  and  the  crown  were  symbolical 
in  her  story,  and  that  they  never  got  the  "sign," 
and  so  she  never  perjured  herself. 

When  the  angels  left  her,  she  says,  "I  was 
neither  glad  nor  afraid;  but  I  was  very  sorrow- 
ful, and  I  wish  they  had  taken  away  my  soul  with 
them." 

t 

4.  The  Warning 

She  was  asked  if  it  was  by  any  merit  of  hers 
that  God  sent  the  angel  with  the  sign,  the  in- 
quisitors thus  pretending  to  take  the  story  as  lit- 
erally true. 

'  *  No, ' '  she  replied.  ' '  He  came  for  a  great  cause 
and  that  they  would  leave  off  arguing  against 


GLIMPSES  OF  INQUISITION    243 

me,  and  let  me  give  succor  to  the  good  people  of 
Orleans." 

"Why  was  the  angel  sent  to  you  rather  than  to 
another?" 

"Because,"  she  replied,  "it  pleased  God,  by  a 
simple  maid,  to  drive  away  the  adversaries  of  the 
King." 

She  had  very  frequently  warned  her  tireless 
tormentors  that  they  ran  great  risks  in  perverting 
her  meaning  and  twisting  her  words  to  the  injury 
of  her  Lord's  truth.  In  this  instance  she  warned 
them  again.  It  must  have  smote  through  their 
thick  consciousness  to  some  nerve  of  conscience, 
for  they  asked  her  about  it. 

The  Bishop  of  Beauvais  being  her  most  relent- 
less and  merciless  persecutor,  must  have  asked 
Delafontaine  to  get  from  her,  during  the  Bishop's 
absence,  what  she  meant  by  her  warnings. 

"He  says  he  is  my  judge,"  she  replied.  "I  do 
not  know  that  he  is.  If  he  judge  ill,  and  God 
chastise  him,  I  may  have  done  my  duty  in  warning 
him." 

"What  is  this  peril  or  danger  that  he  risks?" 

"My  Voices  tell  me  most  frequently  that  I  shall 
be  delivered  with  a  great  victory,  and  they  say  to 
me,  'Fear  not  thyself  for  thy  martyrdom:  thou 
shalt  come  at  last  to  the  kingdom  of  Paradise.' 
And  this  they  tell  me  simply  and  absolutely  with- 
out failing  me  ever." 

So  her  warning  did  come  true  in  a  great  victory 


244 JOAN  OF  ARC 

for  her  and  as  great  a  shame  for  her  evil-minded 
foes. 

"Thy  martyrdom,  Jeanne!"  exclaimed  the  in- 
quisitor, surprised  that  she  could  foresee  some- 
thing dire  for  her  that  must  have  been  very  clear 
to  him. 

"The  trouble  and  adversity  I  suffer  in  prison, 
that  is  martyrdom.  Whether  I  shall  suffer  yet 
greater  sorrow,  I  know  not,  but  I  trust  God." 

Then  Nicole  Midy  scored  one  of  the  diabolical 
points  that  constituted  article  nine  in  the  twelve 
charges  of  heresy  that  condemned  her  to  the  stake. 
[  ' '  Since  your  voices  have  told  you  that  you  shall 
come  at  last  to  the  kingdom  of  Paradise,"  he 
asked  with  the  pious  art  of  one  who  sees  the  place 
for  a  death-stroke, '  *  do  you  hold  yourself  assured 
that  you  shall  be  saved,  and  that  you  shall  not  be 
damned  in  hell  ? ' ' 

Perhaps  she  did  not  know  it  was  heresy  to  be 
sure  of  the  love  of  God.  Perhaps  if  she  had 
known,  her  answer  would  have  been  the  same.  In 
fact,  subsequent  events  proved  that  she  was  one 
of  the  great  martyrs  to  the  freedom  of  conscience 
and  for  the  faith  immediate  between  the  soul  and 
God. 

"I  believe  firmly  what  my  voices  have  told  me," 
she  replied,  "that  I  shall  be  saved,  as  surely  as  if 
I  were  in  heaven  already." 

Indeed  how  could  she  do  otherwise.  If  she  had 
not  believed  her  voices  in  all  things  how  would 
it  have  been  possible  for  her  to  believe  enough 


GLIMPSES  OF  INQUISITION    245 

to  have  persevered  through  such  a  long  series  of 
seemingly  impossible  things. 

"That  reply  is  of  great  weight,  Jeanne,"  said 
the  vice-inquisitor. 

"I  hold  it  for  a  great  treasure, "  was  her  re- 
sponse. 

Between  these  two  replies  exists  all  the  differ- 
ence there  is  between  the  organized  will  to  be- 
lieve and  the  spontaneous  faith  of  hope  and  love. 

' '  Then  you  do  not  believe  that  you  can  fall  into 
mortal  sin  after  that  revelation?" 

"Of  that  I  can  not  know,"  she  replied  simply, 
"but  I  trust  all  in  God." 

And  for  that  they  burnt  her,  those  ancestors  of 
reason,  religion  and  law,  and  we  may  pause  to 
wonder  if  our  posterity  may  not  see  us  as  far 
removed  from  them  as  we  believe  ourselves  to  be 
from  the  University  of  Paris  in  1431. 

Intelligence  has  not  yet  learned  the  values  of 
faith  over  the  spoils  of  will,  and  it  has  not  yet 
distinguished  between  the  progress  of  social  mu- 
tuality over  the  business  reciprocity  of  individual 
conquest.  But  this  we  know  that  faith-keeping 
is  the  divine  religion  of  a  redeemed  humanity,  and 
that  the  time  is  at  hand  for  a  faith-breaking  world 
to  give  way  to  a  faith-keeping  universe. 

5.  The  Source  of  Antagonism  to  Party  Creeds 

The  whole  animus  of  the  trial  comes  now  into 
view.  The  crux  of  the  inquisition  is  to  be  seen  in 


246 JOAN  OF  ARC 

the  jealousy  of  the  religious  organization  of  that 
time  against  all  immediate  personal  communion 
and  counsel  from  God.  Such  heresy  disposed  of 
the  authority  or  mediation  of  the  church!  To 
have  that  office  of  the  Church  nullified  by  the  im- 
mediate communion  of  souls  with  God,  appeared 
to  make  useless  the  entire  ecclesiastic  medium- 
ship.  The  hideous  zeal  of  the  University  of  Paris 
to  bring  to  disrepute  the  voices  and  visions  of 
Joan  of  Arc  was,  for  their  religious  organization 
and  its  functions,  no  less  necessary,  nor  less  a 
question  of  self-preservation,  than  her  work 
against  the  Burgundians  and  English,  in  driving 
them  off  the  French  soil,  for  the  sake  of  France. 

Truly  the  Maid  did  not  know  this.  She  believed 
herself  to  be  as  much  a  daughter  of  the  church 
as  a  daughter  of  God,  though  she  was  in  constant 
antagonism  with  the  officials  of  the  church,  her 
mission  was  wrought  out  against  their  protests, 
and  she  was  at  last  abandoned  by  their  excuses 
and  burnt  by  their  verdict. 

But  the  people  loved  her  too  much  for  her  ashes 
to  rest  in  peace.  The  great,  wide  religious  sys- 
tem could  not  abide  by  such  partisan  conceptions 
of  divine  interest  or  such  a  mongrel  and  spurious 
alliance  of  church  and  state.  There  was  a  retrial 
long  after  she  was  dead.  There  was  a  great  vic- 
tory for  her.  Justice  was  done  to  her  memory 
and  the  church  repudiated  the  abomination  of  her 
condemnation  and  martyrdom. 

The  prosecuting  Bishop  had  succeeded  in  pro- 


viding  most  of  the  minor  charges.  Delafontaine 
had  wrung  from  her  an  allegorical  story  of  the 
sign,  but  it  was  Nicole  Midy  who  uncovered  a 
sufficient  reason  for  destroying  her  and  her  claims, 
if  the  vice-regency  with  its  ecclesiastical  body  was 
to  function  on  earth  as  the  holder  of  the  keys  of 
heaven. 

The  vice-inquisitor,  whom  the  church  was  soon 
to  repudiate,  had  evidently  thought  it  all  out.  He 
began  the  day's  process  with  her  by  the  priestly 
warning  that  she  must  in  all  ways  at  all  times  re- 
fer herself  to  the  church  and  therefore  not  to  any 
visions  or  voices  from  God.  In  other  words  it  was 
now  Joan  of  Arc  who  must  give  up  claims  of 
power  with  God  or  the  church  must  do  so. 

"Let  my  answers  be  seen  and  examined  by  the 
clergy,"  she  replied.  "If  they  tell  me  there  is 
anything  in  them  contrary  to  the  Christian  faith 
which  Our  Lord  taught,  I  will  inquire  of  my  coun- 
cil about  it  and  then  I  will  tell  you  what  I  have 
found  by  my  council;  and  if  there  be  anything 
against  the  Christian  faith,  I  will  not  uphold  it, 
for  I  should  be  very  sorry  to  offend  against  the 
faith." 

This  certainly  disputed  the  authority  of  the 
church,  as  there  represented,  in  matters  pertain- 
ing to  her  conscience  with  God,  and  this  irrepara- 
ble conflict  of  authority  sealed  her  doom.  Any 
authority  or  judgment  that  is  not  social  justice  is 
not  moral  law,  and  is  therefore  outlaw  intolerable 
to  intelligence  and  God. 


248 JOAN  OF  ARC 

6.  By  Whose  Authority  Believest  Thou  This? 

She  was  soon  put  to  the  soul-torture  of  another 
test  that  brought  into  conflict  her  relations  to  God 
and  the  Church.  She  had  said  that  she  had  put 
on  the  vestments  of  a  soldier  because  such  had 
been  her  counsel  from  God,  and  she  could  not 
change  back  to  woman's  clothing  until  she  had 
permission  from  God.  Here  was  a  chance  for  a 
final  test  against  her  assurance  of  salvation, 
through  belief  in  the  understanding  she  had  of 
God's  will. 

The  Church  ordered  her  to  put  on  the  simple 
slip  of  a  shepherd  girl  in  Domremy  and  wear  it 
henceforth,  or  she  would  be  denied  the  consola- 
tions of  the  church.  In  that  condition  of  excom- 
munication she  could  never  reach  Paradise. 

The  final  crisis  had  come.  Should  she  obey  God 
or  the  Church?  It  was  thus  not  a  political  inter- 
est that  brought  Joan  of  Arc  to  the  martyrdom 
of  the  stake,  but  a  fundamental  vital  doctrine  of 
ecclesiasticism  as  distinct  as  that  of  Huss,  Sa- 
vonarola, Luther,  Calvin  or  any  others  of  the 
great  schism-revolutionists  of  history. 

Jeanne  spoke  in  all  things  as  innocently  as  a 
child  in  reference  to  anything  that  might  be  done 
to  her  through  the  verdict  of  her  inquisitors.  Her 
trust  in  God  was  so  perfect  that  she  had  no  inter- 
est in  any  fate  that  man  or  nature  might  design 
for  her.  She  was  sure  of  Paradise  but  she  wanted 
to  be  a  faithful  daughter  of  the  Church.  She 


PIERRE  CAUCHON 

The  prosecutor  in  the  trial  against  Joan  of  Arc.  The  ef- 
figy upon  his  tomb  in  the  Cathedral  of  Lisieux,  destroyed 
in  the  revolution  of  1793 


GLIMPSES  OF  INQUISITION    249 

wanted  to  comply  with  all  its  requirements.  It 
had  been  her  cradle  and  her  home.  She  had  never 
known  any  other  moral  environment.  In  that,  the 
only  way  known  to  her,  she  begged  to  be  allowed 
to  attend  mass. 

•  It  had  now  been  more  than  three  months  since 
she  had  heard  prayers  in  a  church.  She  agreed 
to  put  on  the  usual  woman's  dress  for  the  pur- 
poses of  church  mass,  but  they  purposed  to  treat 
her  only  as  an  erring  girl  who  had  run  away  from 
peasant  parents  in  Domremy !  No  more  was  her 
work  for  God  to  be  recognized  than  that!  Her' 
soldier's  uniform  was  all  that  remained  to  her 
symbolic  of  her  great  mission  and  she  would  not 
thus  dishonor  them! 

|    "  Would  you  prefer  never  to  hear  mass  than  to 
put  on  your  woman's  dress  for  always?" 
!     The  question  was  squarely  put  now  between 
Church  and  God. 

I  "I  will  take  that  to  my  council"  she  said,  as 
immovable  as  any  of  the  great  religious  martyrs 
of  history,  "and  when  my  council  has  told  me 
what  to  do  I  will  tell  you." 

"To  hear  mass,  you  must  wear  your  woman's 
dress  simply,  absolutely  and  always." 

She  plead  and  prayed,  suggesting  various  ways 
to  satisfy  the  ecclesiastical  decision  but  it  could 
not  be  done. 

She  was  not  called  of  God,  had  not  led  armies 
over  obstacles  great  as  any  Napoleon,  and  had 
not  been  ennobled  by  the  King  of  France !  These 


250 JOAN  OF  ARC 

virtuous  inquisitors  acknowledged  her  at  best  to 
be  nothing  but  the  runaway  daughter  of  peasants, 
in  whose  wicked  presumptions,  ignoring  the  office 
of  the  Church,  she  was  worthy  only  of  death ! 

With  triumphant  malice  they  pressed  the  iron 
sword  of  their  creed  through  her  soul  and  cruci- 
fied this  daughter  of  God  as  feloniously,  this  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  as  did  the  learned  men  four- 
teen centuries  before,  the  Son  of  God. 

7.  Making  a  Public  Spectacle  of  Disobedience 

It  was  decided  to  hold  a  great  public  meeting 
on  May  2,  so  that  the  contradiction  and  conflict  of 
her  obedience  to  God  and  to  the  Church,  as  there 
represented,  could  be  brought  into  clear  contrast 
before  the  people.  She  had  asked  what  they  meant 
by  the  Church  Militant  to  which  they  were  driving 
her  to  submit  and  they  had  told  her  that  it  was  the 
Pope  and  all  the  organized  body  of  ecclesiastics 
under  him.  She  had  promptly  replied  that  she 
was  willing  to  be  tried  before  the  Pope.  But  now 
the  people  must  be  shown  that  this  so-called 
" daughter  of  God"  was  a  disobedient  and  he- 
retical "daughter  of  the  Church." 

Bishop  Cauchon  of  Beauvais  had  provided  an 
overawing  display  of  sixty-two  judges  present. 
He  told  the  great  public  audience  that  he  had 
brought  her  before  them  so  they  could  see  for 
themselves  how  she  defied  the  holy  Mother 
Church. 


GLIMPSES  OF  INQUISITION    251 

Joan  was  then  led  conspicuously  into  the  hall 
and  down  the  aisle  to  a  prominent  seat  before  her 
judges.  Turning  to  her,  this  bishop  of  mercy  and 
peace,  representing  the  might  of  God  on  earth,  ad- 
vised Joan  that  he  had,  for  the  sake  of  her  soul 
and  her  body,  brought  her  there  to  listen  to  the 
great  eloquence  of  the  learned  doctor  of  theology, 
Archdeacon  Chatillon. 

The  Archdeacon  held  in  his  hands  his  written 
sermon  on  obedience  to  the  Church.  Without  re- 
ply to  Cauchon  she  bade  the  learned  doctor  to  pro- 
ceed in  the  reading  of  his  book.  He  read  his  pon- 
derous discussion  and  then  concluded  by  saying 
that  unless  she  surrendered  her  soul  in  obedience 
to  the  Church,  as  he  had  denned,  she  placed  her- 
self in  the  power  of  the  Church  "to  be  burnt  as  a 
heretic. ' ' 

He  awaited  her  reply,  and  loud  and  clear  she 
said,  "I  will  not  say  aught  else  than  I  have  al- 
ready spoken;  and,  were  I  even  to  see  the  fire,  I 
should  say  the  same." 

Magnificent  loyalty  to  faith  in  God !  Even  Man- 
chon,  the  clerk  writing  down  her  testimony,  wrote 
opposite  the  paragraph  these  significant  words, 
"Superba  responsio." 

8.  Facing  Torture  m  a  Chamber  of  Horrors 

Cauchon  now  determined  to  try  torture.  It 
would  be  a  great  thing  for  the  English-Burgundi- 
an  cause  if  Joan  could  be  made  publicly  to  ac- 


252 JOAN  OF  ARC 

knowledge  herself  only  a  peasant  girl,  bewitched, 
who  had  finally  found  Almighty  salvation  to  be 
possible  only  in  the  guidance  of  the  University  of 
Paris,  as  the  efficient  representative  of  the 
Church. 

Joan,  escorted  by  a  dozen  of  her  most  notori- 
ous inquisitors,  was  taken  into  the  dungeon  of  tor- 
ture. 

The  articles  of  accusation  were  read  to  her. 
Then  Cauchon  said,  "You  see  before  you  the  in- 
struments of  torture  which  are  prepared,  and  by 
them  stand  the  executioners,  who  are  ready  to  do 
the  office  at  our  command.  You  will  be  tortured  in 
order  that  you  may  be  led  into  the  way  of  truth, 
and  for  the  salvation  of  your  body  and  soul, 
which  you  by  your  lies  have  exposed  to  so  great 
a  peril." 

In  front  of  her  lay  the  rack  which  was  slowly 
to  tear  her  limbs  asunder. 

This  is  what  the  clerk  wrote  down  in  the  record 
as  her  words,  this  girl  just  entering  the  age  of 
womanhood : 

"Even  if  you  tear  me  limb  from  limb,  and  even 
if  you  kill  me,  yet  will  I  not  say  a  word  more 
than  I  have  said.  And  even  were  I  forced  in  the 
delirium  of  pain  to  do  so,  I  should  afterward  de- 
clare that  I  had  spoken  differently  only  because  of 
the  torture." 

These  hideous  minds  whose  names  belong  to 
everlasting  infamy  were  uncertain  whether  or  not 
to  order  the  torture,  because  she  might  die  in  it, 


GLIMPSES  OF  INQUISITION    253 

and  Archdeacon  Chatillon  reminded  them  that  she 
should  be  saved  for  the  stake,  thus  needed  for  the 
edification  of  the  world. 

Bishop  Cauchon  asked  her  if  her  voices  had  told 
her  what  was  now  to  happen. 

"I  asked  them,"  she  replied,  "if  I  should  be 
burnt,  and  they  answered,  'Abide  in  God  and  He 
will  abide  in  thee.'  " 

The  various  translations  and  quotations  of  this 
reply,  like  the  differences  in  all  other  testimonies 
respecting  her,  fundamentally  agree  that  this  won- 
derful woman  was  wonderful  from  her  immediate 
and  unassailable  faith  in  the  immanence  of  God. 
In  every  instance  from  the  beginning,  it  was  al- 
ways God,  her  Lord  and  Savior  first,  the  rights 
of  her  beloved  France  next,  and  only  as  they  were 
of  God  did  she  have  any  belief  in  the  superiority 
of  saints,  voices,  visions,  priests,  prelates,  ecclesi- 
astics or  the  Church. 

"As  to  the  Church,"  she  often  said,  "I  love  it 
and  would  wish  to  maintain  it  with  all  my  power, 
for  our  Christian  faith. ' '  Plainly  she  believed  the 
all-powerful  political  and  militant  Church  to  be  no 
^more  than  one  of  the  human  instrumentalities  to- 
ward helping  people  to  know  God. 

If  France  had  rallied  around  her  and  she  had 
been  serving  a  noble  and  powerful  king,  so  that 
her  great  mission  could  have  been  fulfilled,  un- 
hampered by  the  folly  of  courts  or  ecclesiastics, 
she  might  have  reformed  the  control  that  the 
Church  militant  had  established  between  Man  and 


254 JOAN  OF  ARC 

his  Maker,  and  made  unnecessary  the  bloody  ref- 
ormations and  religious  wars  that  were  to  follow 
for  the  freedom  of  soul  and  the  liberties  of  hu- 
manity. 

9.  Inspiration  That  Shall  Not  Be  Subject  to  the 
Will  of  Man 

To  make  her  divine  communion  a  question  for 
her  enemies  to  pronounce  true  or  false  was  im- 
possible, if  she  were  to  be  true  either  to  herself 
or  God.  She  gave  up  all  hope  in  man  and  hence- 
forth her  life  was  not  to  be  considered  answerable 
to  any  but  her  Lord. 

The  final  question  was  put,  "Will  you  or  will 
you  not,  on  what  you  have  said  and  done,  submit 
yourself  to  the  judgment  of  the  Church  1 ' ' 

She  knew  now  what  her  answer  meant  to  them 
and  never  was  martyr  more  true  to  faith  in  God. 

Submit  to  these  fiendish  minds  seeking  to  ruin 
her  faith,  to  despoil  her  character,  to  blast  her 
great  cause  and  bring  her  to  a  witch's  death! 
And  call  this  the  Church  of  God! 

"All  my  words  and  works  are  in  the  hand  of 
God,  and  I  submit  myself  to  him,"  she  firmly  re- 
plied. "And  I  assure  you  that  I  would  neither  do 
nor  say  anything  against  the  Christian  faith  by 
our  Lord  established ;  and  if  the  clergy  show  that 
I  have  upon  me  any  act  or  deed  contrary  to  it,  I 
will  not  sustain  it,  but  will  thrust  it  from  me. ' ' 

The  innocence  of  La  Pucelle  has  been  estab- 


GLIMPSES  OF  INQUISITION    255 

lished  by  a  great  tribunal  of  her  Church  and  she 
has  been  enrolled  in  the  Calendar  of  its  saints. 
With  such  brave  deeds  was  she  ennobled  by  her 
King  and  with  such  immortal  words,  said  in  such 
undying  faith,  she  became  the  wonderful  woman, 
not  only  of  her  beloved  France,  but  of  all  the 
world. 

Wearily  the  inquisition  dragged  on.  Scores  of 
learned  men  against  one  lone  and  dreadfully  tor- 
tured girl!  Like  the  teeth  of  a  saw  the  reitera- 
tions cut  hard  upon  her  heart  and  brain,  so  tired 
of  it  all! 

Saturday  came  and  it  was  again  demanded  ab- 
ruptly of  her  if  she  would  submit  her  words  and 
deeds  to  the  Holy  Mother  Church  to  determine 
whether  they  were  good  or  evil.  How  could  such 
a  thing  be  done  with  these  merciless  men  claiming 
to  be  the  Holy  Mother  Church!  How  could  she 
do  such  treason  to  all  her  mission  for  her  country 
and  her  God. 

"I  submit  myself  to  God  who  sent  me,"  she  re- 
plied with  schismatic  finality,  "to  Our  Lady,  and 
to  all  the  blessed  saints  in  Paradise.  Our  Lord 
and  the  Church  are  one.  It  seems  to  me  you  ought 
not  to  make  any  difficulty  about  it.  Why  do  you 
make  a  difficulty  as  if  they  were  not  one?" 

They  could  not  answer  that.  It  was  the  vital 
question  that  was  soon  to  bring  forth  Luther,  Cal- 
vin and  the  host  of  dissenters  that  were  to  shatter 
Christendom  like  glass  into  a  thousand  creeds.  < 

She  was  rapidly  becoming  conscious  of  the  ir- 


256 JOAN  OF  ARC 

reconcilable  difference  between  her  relations  as 
a  daughter  of  God  and  a  daughter  of  the  Church. 
It  was  a  question  of  her  right  to  hear  her  voices 
or  the  voices  of  these  men.  It  was  not  that  she 
had  been  a  conquering  warrior  but  that  she  had 
received  her  authority  elsewhere  than  from  a  col- 
lection of  partisan  wills  claiming  to  be  the  Church. 
Loyalty  and  integrity  are  the  essential  forms 
required  for  the  values  of  personal  freedom  and 
social  justice.  Human  rights  are  impossible  from 
the  partial  view  of  any  fragment.  Individual 
judgments  are  not  trustworthy  for  decisions  to- 
ward any  other  individual.  Each  has  insufficient 
evidence  and  such  uncertain  reasonableness  as  to 
be  wholly  unqualified  to  decide  the  realities  of 
another.  Mind  and  humanity  require  a  total  ideal 
from  which  to  estimate  morality  and  decency,  or 
from  which  to  realize  any  fulfillment  of  patriotism 
or  religion.  Civilization  is  not  possible  from  any 
structure  of  covenants  and  contracts.  Church  and 
state  are  human  values  only  as  they  express  the 
righteousness  of  a  total  human  system.  The  in- 
carnation of  Eternal  Meaning  at  the  close  of  an- 
cient times  was  the  Son  of  Man,  and  the  personi- 
fication of  that  meaning  for  the  Middle  Ages  was 
"the  daughter  of  God,"  and  we  may  well  believe 
that  moral  democracy  warring  against  the  Teu- 
tonic war,  symbolizes  for  the  present  age  that  Al- 
mighty Faith  as  the  total  ideal  of  social  meaning 
necessary  for  moral  reasoning,  social  justice,  and 
the  salvation  of  the  world. 


CHAPTER  XIV 
THE  MIGHT  OF  RIGHT  FOR  THE  SOUL 

1.  Counsel  from  a  Traitor  in  the  Cause  of  Death 

THE  faith  of  this  wonderful  woman  stood  for 
freedom  of  conscience  and  for  the  immediate  pres- 
ence of  God  in  divine  salvation.  No  martyr  ever 
went  to  the  stake  for  a  clearer  cause  than  did 
La  Pucelle.  She  deserves  for  this  faith  the  honor 
of  all  mankind.  This  young  girl  drank  of  the  cup 
with  Socrates  and  Christ. 

Jeanne's  fate  depended  on  her  reply  to  the 
question  put  by  Lafontaine.  He  explained, 
' '  There  is  a  Church  Triumphant  in  which  are  God, 
His  saints,  the  angels  and  the  souls  that  are 
saved.  There  is  also  the  Church  Militant,  which 
is  our  Holy  Father,  the  Pope,  who  is  the  Vicar 
of  God  on  Earth;  the  Cardinals,  the  prelates  of 
the  church  and  the  clergy,  all  good  Christians  and 
Catholics ;  and  this  church  in  its  assembly  can  not 
err,  for  it  is  moved  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  Will  you 
appeal  to  the  Church  Militant?" 

Her  answer  came  like  her  assault  upon  the  Tow- 
ers at  Orleans.  It  was  direct.  It  was  unanswer- 
able. It  was  a  great  victory.  One  of  the  greatest 
in  the  world.  But  this  time  it  was  not  arms 

257 


258 JOAN  OF  ARC 

against  arms,  it  was  faith  against  will,  which  is 
the  same  as  the  beauty  of  a  rose  against  the  way 
of  a  wolf. 

"I  am  come  to  the  King  of  Prance,  from  God," 
she  said,  "from  the  Virgin  Mary  and  all  the  bless- 
ed saints  in  Paradise,  and  from  the  Church  Tri- 
umphant above  and  by  their  command.  To  that 
church  I  submit  all  the  good  deeds  I  have  done 
and  shall  do.  As  to  replying  whether  I  will  sub- 
mit to  the  Church  Militant,  I  have  no  further  an- 
swer." 

Pierre  Maurice,  Canon  of  Rouen,  one  of  the 
most  famous  learned  men  in  Europe,  was  called  on 
to  admonish  her,  and  to  make  the  final  demand  of 
submission.  This  final  session  of  the  trial  was  held 
on  May  23. 

"If  your  King,"  he  said  with  great  unction, 
"had  appointed  you  to  defend  a  fortress,  forbid- 
ding you  to  let  any  one  enter  it,  would  you  not 
refuse  to  admit  whosoever,  claiming  to  come  from 
him,  that  did  not  present  letters  and  some  other 
token?  Likewise,  when  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  on 
His  ascension  into  heaven,  committed  to  the 
Blessed  Apostle  Peter  and  to  his  successors  the 
government  of  His  Church,  He  forbade  them  to 
receive  such  as  claimed  to  come  in  His  name  but 
brought  no  credentials.  So,  when  you  were  in 
your  King's  dominion,  if  a  knight  or  some  other 
owing  fealty  to  him  had  arisen,  saying,  'I  will 
not  obey  the  King;  I  will  not  submit  either  to 
him  or  to  his  officers,'  would  you  not  have  said, 


THE  MIGHT  OF  RIGHT 

'He  is  a  man  to  be  censured?7  What  say  you  then 
of  yourself,  you  who,  engendered  in  Christ's  re- 
ligion, having  become  by  baptism  the  daughter  of 
the  Church  and  the  bride  of  Christ,  dost  now  re- 
fuse obedience  to  the  officers  of  Christ,  that  is, 
to  the  prelates  of  the  Church!" 

So,  her  faith  as  fulfilled  in  her  wonderful  works 
was  no  credential  or  evidence  or  token  of  being 
from  the  King  or  for  the  King!  It  had  been  on 
the  side  of  the  party  against  them  and  therefore 
could  not  be  of  the  Church  or  of  God!  .Such  is 
the  monstrosity  of  a  party-made  mind  for  the 
salvation  of  a  party-made  right  of  humanity. 

Her  reply  was  the  equal  of  any  ever  made  on 
earth  before,  and  can  never  be  surpassed.  This 
aineteen-year-old  girl  was  as  much  of  a  martyr 
for  the  divine  right  to  her  faith  in  God  as  ever 
strove  or  died  for  any  cause  in  the  social  universe. 

"What  I  have  always  held  and  said  in  the  trial, 
that  will  I  maintain,"  she  said.  "If  I  were  con- 
demned and  saw  the  faggots  lighted,  and  the  exe- 
cutioner ready  to  stir  the  fire  and  I  in  the  fire,  I 
would  say  and  maintain  till  I  died  nought  other 
than  what  I  said  during  the  trial." 

And  thus  it  came  to  pass,  and  thus  she  kept  the 
faith! 

2.  Condemnation 

The  fatal  confession  of  loyalty  to  God  in  the 

freedom  of  her  own  conscience  was  written  down. 

There  on  the  margin  of  the  record  where  it  still 


JOAN  OF  ARC 


is  to  be  read,  Manchon  the  clerk  wrote,  as  he  had 
done  two  or  three  times  before,  "Responsio  Jo- 
hannae  superba." 

And  now  her  story  goes  into  darkness  for  the 
coming  week.  The  confusion  of  many  witnesses 
and  many  views  that  prevailed  from  the  first,  that 
has  been  told  of  her,  has  always  a  background  and 
a  groundwork  from  which  a  reasonable  outline, 
though  in  various  ways,  may  be  drawn  of  her 
faith,  her  character,  her  experience  and  her  cause. 
But  now  comes  a  week  of  darkness  from  the  con- 
fusion of  irreconcilable  versions  of  what  hap- 
pened. By  taking  her  endurance  and  faith  up  to 
that  time,  we  can  reconstruct  something  of  what 
may,  in  general  terms,  have  consistently  hap- 
pened, but  only  the  critical  historian  can  recon- 
struct, from  the  mass  of  testimony,  a  plausible  se- 
quence of  events  or  of  reasonably  verified  condi- 
tions and  facts. 

Pierre  Cusquel,  being  a  friend  of  the  master- 
mason  of  the  castle,  says  he  obtained  permission 
to  have  a  secret  look  at  the  great  prisoner.  He 
testified  under  oath  that  she  was  confined  in  an 
iron  cage,  chained  into  a  standing  position  by  the 
neck  and  wrists  and  ankles.  When  she  walked  she 
was  ironed  to  a  block  of  log,  when  sleeping  she 
was  ironed  to  the  bed.  She  was  more  than  five 
months  in  this  inhuman  torture. 

We  have  no  account  of  how  extensively  her  trial 

was  known  among  the  people  near  or  far,  but  it 

tis  reasonable  to  suppose  that  there  were  means 


THE  MIGHT  OF  RIGHT        261 

used  to  carry  the  news  of  one  so  extraordinary; 
and  so  famous. 

The  inquisition  had  completed  its  labors  and 
the  cause  for  condemnation  was  far  from  being 
conclusive  enough. 

The  judges  sat  around  like  a  pack  of  wolves. 
They  were  eager  to  tear  her  truth  to  pieces  and 
destroy  her  life.  But  Jeanne  never  sought  to 
conciliate  any  of  them.  She  believed  only  in  truth 
and  her  God. 

At  las{  a  decision  was  reached.  The  day  of 
Condemnation  was  set  for  May  24,  1431. 

3.  The  Ceremony  of  'Accusation 

She  had  sought  no  counsel  from  priests  or  war- 
riors and  had  asked  no  help  or  authority  from 
the  Church  or  Court.  These  necessary  values  all 
came  from  God,  between  her  and  her  Creator 
alone.  Therefore  she  had  against  her  the  three 
most  powerful  incentives  of  will,  those  of  the  war 
commanders,  the  favorites  around  the  King,  and 
the  priesthood  as  the  Church  Militant  of  God. 
From  the  war  commanders  she  had  her  plans  de- 
feated, from  the  favorites  at  court  she  had  treach- 
ery and  betrayal,  and  from  the  Church  she  had 
treason,  torture  and  death. 

With  ponderous  ceremony,  her  accusers 
brought  her  into  a  conspicuous  public  place  for 
the  formal  act  of  accusation. 

All  the  testimony  was  summed  up  in  twelve  ar- 


262 JOAN  OF  ARC 

tides  of  heresy,  all  so  utterly  false  that  we  won- 
der how  there  could  be  any  civilization  having 
such  monstrous  minds  at  its  head  in  Church  and 
State. 

These  were  read  to  her  with  sonorous  tones  in 
the  hearing  of  the  awe-stricken  public,  and  there 
is  some  testimony  given  by  her  enemies  that  her 
spirit  was  broken  under  the  ordeal,  but  we  can 
hardly  believe  such  weak  and  poorly  supported 
evidence  that  she  was  any  less  valiant  in  battles 
for  right  as  the  might  of  soul,  than  she  was  brave 
for  right  as  the  might  of  body. 

The  life  of  one  composed  of  unconquerable 
faith  through  such  a  long  series  of  evidently  in- 
surmountable difficulties  and  tasks,  we  may  well 
believe  remained  consistent  to  the  end.  She  who 
never  wavered  in  the  front  of  most  terrific  bat- 
tles, and  who  could  not  be  overawed  in  the  pres- 
ence of  bishops,  councils  or  kings,  may  have  faint- 
ed in  the  tortures  of  body,  but  it  is  the  grossest 
unreason  to  believe,  in  the  midst  of  the  contra- 
dictory partisan  testimony,  that  she  ever  failed 
in  her  faith  to  her  call  as  the  Daughter  of  God. 

After  the  dreadful  articles  of  heresy  had  been 
read,  came  the  long  severe  act  of  accusation.  She 
must  be  grilled  through  all  the  long  course  of  the 
seventy  specific  charges  brought  against  her. 

The  preliminary  accusation  charged  her  at  once 
with  being  sorceress,  given  to  magic  arts,  invoking 
demons;  idolatrous,  sacrilegious,  malicious,  apos- 
tate ;  a  blasphemer  of  God ;  scandalous,  seditious, 


THE  MIGHT  OF  RIGHT        263 

cruel,  indecent,  a  liar,  heretic  and  a  seducer  of  the 
people. 

De  Courcelles  read  through  the  long  series  of 
seventy  horrible  charges  in  a  clear,  loud  voice, 
with  great  emphasis  on  the  worst  of  his  words. 
She  stood  facing  him  through  all  these  abomina- 
ble accusations  with  the  dignity  of  undaunted 
womanhood  whose  faith  and  character  and  cause 
were  not  in  the  hands  of  man  or  ecclesiastics,  or 
Church,  but  in  the  unchangeable  promise  of  God. 
She  had  begun  with  the  mission  to  deliver  her  be- 
loved France  from  the  yoke  of  oppression,  and 
it  was  ending  with  her  being  used  as  the  means 
to  commit  the  soul  of  her  country  into  the  des- 
potism of  ecclesiastical  mastery. 

The  whole  dreadful  thing  was  done  to  her  but 
she  returned  no  ill  word  to  them.  She  merely 
denied  and  let  them  read  on.  She  knew  in  whom 
she  believed  and  that  He  would  be  with  her  unto 
the  end. 

4.  A  New  Creed  for  Mankind 

The  final  question  was  the  fatal  one,  "Do  you 
believe  you  are  subject  to  the  Church?" 

Her  fatal  answer  was,  "Yes,  God  first  served." 

Thus  was  this  woman  not  a  captive  of  kings 
but  of  priests.  She  was  the  victim  of  a  religious 
creed  that  was  the  servant  of  ambition  and  of 
hate.  She  asserted  a  freedom  that  was  to  become 
the  light  of  the  world. 

At  the  close  of  the  ordeal,  she  was  returned  to 


264 JOAN  OF  ARC 

her  cell  where  she  fell  desperately  sick.  Her  body 
was  sore  afflicted  with  the  long  terrible  trial, 
but  her  soul  possessed  peace  that  passeth  under- 
standing. Never  for  any  moment  had  there  ever 
been  any  wavering  in  her  firm  hold  on  God. 

Her  guards  now  mocked  her,  terrified  her  and 
tortured  her,  in  more  malicious  forms  than  ever 
before. 

Jacques  Tiphane,  a  Paris  physician,  was  sent  to 
see  her.  He  found  her  chained,  unclothed  upon 
an  iron  bed.  He  was  one  of  the  worst  of  the  big- 
oted and  brutal  throng.  He  abused  her,  called 
her  vile  names,  and,  in  consequence,  she  was 
thrown  into  a  wild  fever.  Then  two  other  physi- 
cians were  sent  who  bled  her  profusely  and  mer- 
cifully brought  her  very  near  to  death. 

Believing  she  was  about  to  die  she  piteously 
begged  for  the  rites  of  the  Church.  Then  vicious 
Nicole  Midy  was  sent  to  her  with  several  other 
priests.  The  visit  was  not  to  console  her  in  any 
way  but  to  administer  the  three  monitions  given 
to  those  condemned  to  be  burned  at  the  stake. 

This  was  done  and  to  her  appeal  for  the  con- 
solation of  the  Church,  the  Bishop  said  it  was 
impossible  for  the  Church  to  mediate  in  any  way 
for  her  unless  she  submit  to  the  Church. 

"If  my  body  die  in  prison,"  she  said,  "I  hope 
you  will  let  it  be  buried  in  holy  ground ;  if  not,  I 
leave  it  to  God." 

They  looked  at  the  girl  as  she  said  these  things 
and  received  the  impression  that  she  was  dying. 


THE  MIGHT  OF  RIGHT        265 

"Jeanne,"  said  one  of  the  priests,  "you  have 
asked  for  your  Savior.  We  will  promise  to  give 
you  your  Savior,  if  you  will  submit  to  the 
Church." 

"Of  that  submission,"  she  replied,  "I  can  not 
answer  otherwise  than  I  have  done.  I  am  a  Chris- 
tian, I  love  God  and  serve  him." 

And  so  she  put  the  final  seal  upon  her  fate. 

5.  The  Alleged  Abjuration 

The  crushing  ruin,  designed  to  drive  every 
meaning  of  the  Maid  out  of  the  minds  of  men,  and 
annihilate  all  interest  and  value  she  might  have 
for  any  one,  could  be  accomplished  completely 
only  in  her  admitting  that  the  judgment  of  the 
Church,  then  trying  her,  was  perfect  in  all  its  con- 
sideration of  her  affairs.  It  was  a  necessary  vin- 
dication for  them  as  wTell  as  a  triumph  against 
all  who  might  believe  in  her.  Though  her  body 
and  mind  had  been  enfeebled  by  the  long  months 
of  anguish,  she  never  weakened  in  her  belief  and 
the  repeated  statement  that  "God  must  first  be 
served." 

It  was  a  dramatic  and  spectacular  display  they 
prepared  when  Joan  should  be  called  on  publicly 
to  recant  and  abjure  her  life,  or  sentence  of  burn- 
ing at  the  stake  should  be  pronounced  against 
her. 

The  big  cemetery  of  the  Abbey  Saint-Ouen  was 
to  be  the  scene  of  judgment.  Two  great  scaffolds 


266 JOAN  OF  ARC 

or  elevated  platforms  were  erected  near  each 
other  in  the  center  of  the  grave-yard.  On  one 
was  seated  forty  or  fifty  of  the  greatest  men  of 
the  time,  cardinals,  bishops,  abbots  and  assessors, 
with  lords  and  officers  of  the  English  Court.  On 
the  other  scaffold  was  the  Archdeacon  of  Errard 
and  by  his  side  Joan  of  Arc.  Around  them  were 
the  prosecutors,  the  recording  secretaries  and  no- 
taries. The  immense  grave-yard  was  filled  with 
a  mass  of  people  covering  the  ground  and  the 
tombs. 

The  preacher  took  for  his  text  the  words  from 
John  15:4-6,  "A  branch  can  not  bear  fruit  except 
it  abide  in  the  vine. '  '  The  Church,  even  as  repre- 
sented there,  was  the  vine,  and  the  sermon  ac- 
cordingly was  on  obedience  to  the  Church.  The 
prisoner  sitting  there  was  the  culprit  who  claimed 
to  have  direction  for  her  conduct  outside  of  the 
Church,  even  from  God. 

" Behold  the  pride  of  this  woman,"  he  cried  in 
righteous  fervor,  with  a  string  of  atrocious  accu- 
sations against  her,  bawled  forth  in  the  coarsest 
words  of  defamation.  Raising  his  voice  he  ex- 
claimed, "Great  is  the  pity!  Ah,  France,  thou 
hast  been  much  deceived;  thou  hast  been  always 
the  most  Christian  land,  and  Charles,  who  calls 
himself  King  and  Governor,  has  trusted  like  the 
heretic  schismatic  that  he  is,  to  the  words  and 
deeds  of  this  base  and  wanton  woman,  full  of  all 
dishonor.  It  is  to  thee,  Jeanne,  I  speak  to  tell 
thee  that  thy  King  is  a  heretic  and  schismatic. ' ' 


Then  Jeanne  arose,  facing  him  with  the  dignity 
of  the  freedom  seen  when  she  held  her  banner 
aloft  in  the  front  of  battle.  Now  it  was  again  the 
banner  of  truth  for  her  beloved  France. 

"Say  what  you  like  of  me,*'  she  cried  loud  and 
clear  for  all  to  hear,  "but  say  not  so  of  my  King. 
He  is  a  good  Christian  and  his  trust  was  not  in 
me,  but  in  God." 

The  preacher,  ignoring  her  interruption,  went 
on  with  his  abuse  to  the  final  words  of  excom- 
munication and  condemnation. 


6.  The  Sentence  of  Death 

The  awful  drag  and  grind  of  a  hundred  strong 
men  against  this  weakened  tortured  girl  was  now 
driven  far  beyond  anything  known  in  human  en- 
durance. What  could  not  be  drawn  from  her  by 
force  was  now  attempted  by  trickery  and  falsified 
replies  to  her  questions.  No  friendly  soul  had 
been  near  her  for  many  months.  The  sting  of 
the  serpent  and  the  breath  of  the  wolf  was  in 
every  move  around  her. 

In  this  last  chance,  the  vicious  experts  crowded 
around  her  at  the  end  of  the  final  address  of  the 
Church  to  her.  "Let  us  save  you,"  cried  her  tor- 
mentors in  her  ear.  "Abjure  or  be  burnt  and  be 
damned,"  cried  another.  The  Bishop  began  to 
read  the  sentence  of  death.  He  was  nearly 
through  and  it  would  then  be  too  late. 

"Here  sign  this,  quickly,  we  pity  thee,"  cried 


268 JOAN  OF  ARC 

the  Archdeacon  in  her  ear.  There  was  a  great 
uproar  among  the  people.  The  cry  was  not '  *  Cru- 
cify Him !  Crucify  Him ! '  '  but  it  was  ' '  Burn  her ! 
Burn  the  witch  of  the  Armagnacs ! ' ' 

Did  she  cry,  "My  God,  my  God,  why  hast  Thou 
forsaken  me !"  as  it  had  been  interpreted  that  her 
Lord  had  done  in  the  weakness  of  despair !  None 
know  what  she  said,  but  they  claim  that  she  be- 
gan to  repeat  the  words  of  recantation  they  said 
to  her.  The  proof  is  desperately  confused.  They 
said  she  signed  a  document  of  abjuration  but  all 
the  testimony  shows  she  could  not  write.  We 
know  that  she  could  not  read,  and  we  do  not  know 
what  they  read  to  her  if  she  did  sign  it.  Every 
reasonable  consistency  bears  witness  that  she  did 
not  fail  as  she  understood  it,  and  that  her  ene- 
mies, like  wolves  around  a  dying  lamb,  obtained 
falsely  all  that  they  got  from  her  in  that  dread- 
ful hour. 

Massieu  says  he  offered  her  a  pen  as  the  Arch- 
deacon yelled,  "Sign  now,  otherwise  thou  shalt 
end  thy  life  in  fire  to-day  and  thy  soul  in  hell  for- 
ever," and  he  said  to  her,  "Better  sign  than 
burn."  He  says  she  laughed  and  made  a  round 
figure  at  the  bottom  of  the  document,  saying  "I 
can  not  write."  Laurence  Callot  was  one  of  the 
English  secretaries  sitting  at  her  side.  He  says 
that  he  seized  her  hand  and  guided  the  pen  across 
the  paper  so  as  to  spell  out  the  name,  "  Jehanne." 
And  that  is  without  doubt  all  there  was  to  her 
recantation,  thus  claiming  that  she  was  abjuring 


THE  MIGHT  OF  RIGHT        269 

her  work,  her  country  and  her  God.  It  is  of 
course  absurd.  But  it  served  the  purpose  of  writ- 
ing down  a  lie  to  be  believed  against  the  invinci- 
ble and  immortal  God's  faith  born  in  the  soul  of 
a  woman. 

As  testified  to  by  five  clerks,  including  Jean 
Massieu,  who  was  the  one  that  read  it,  the  re- 
cantation which  Joan  signed  was  less  in  length 
than  the  Lord's  prayer  and  was  so  worded  that 
she  did  not  understand  it  as  she  herself  said. 
But  a  long,  vicious  document  requiring  half  an 
hour  to  read  was  the  one  used  against  her. 

7.  Back  to  the  Dungeon  of  Despair 

Pierre  Cauchon,  Bishop  of  Bauvais,  was  now  at 
the  end  of  his  infamous  task.  He  turned  to  the 
Cardinal  of  England  and  asked  what  he  should 
do.  Mitigate  the  sentence  was  the  reply,  and  the 
Bishop  did  so.  Instead  of  reading  death  at  the 
stake,  he  read,  that,  for  sins  against  God  and  His 
Church,  "We  condemn  you,  in  our  grace  and  mod- 
eration, to  pass  the  rest  of  your  days  in  prison  on 
the  bread  of  sorrow  and  the  water  of  anguish, 
there  to  weep  and  lament  your  sins." 

A  little  glimpse  of  sympathy  here  appears  in 
the  black  mass.  Loiselleur,  the  one  who  had  been 
the  betrayer  of  her  confessional  in  prison,  came 
grinning  up  to  her,  offering  his  congratulations. 
It  is  recorded  that  this  was  the  beginning  in  him 
of  great  remorse. 


270 JOAN  OF  ARC 

"Jeanne,"  he  said,  "you  have  done  a  good 
day's  work  and,  please  God,  you  have  saved  your 
soul." 

She  turned  from  him  in  great  indignation  and 
cried  out  to  the  judges  seated  opposite  to  her  on 
the  other  platform,  "Now  that  you  men  of  the 
Church  have  condemned  me,  take  me  into  one  of 
the  Church  prisons.  Leave  me  no  longer  in  the 
prison  of  the  English." 

This  was  now  her  right  and  the  duty  of  the 
Church,  indisputably,  though  it  had  in  truth  been 
so  from  the  first. 

Pierre  Miger,  friar  of  Longueville,  evidently 
desiring  to  hasten  this  decision,  hurried  forward, 
saying,  "Where  shall  she  be  taken?"  At  least 
the  friar  in  his  sworn  testimony  says  such  was 
his  intention,  but  an  English  Bishop  hearing  his 
words,  turned  to  Cauchon,  saying,  "This  fellow 
is  one  who  favored  her. ' '  This  accusation  proved 
to  be  as  frightful  to  him  as  to  Peter  and  he  has- 
tened to  deny  it. 

Many  of  the  mob  hearing  her  and  realizing  that 
they  were  not  to  see  her  burn,  began  throwing 
stones  at  the  judges.  Several  of  the  judges  be- 
gan expressing  their  opinion  to  the  Bishop  of 
Beauvais  that  she  should  now  be  taken  to  the 
church  prison,  but  he  knew  that  Joan  had  made 
no  recantation.  There  was  yet  work  for  him  to 
do.  He  cut  short  all  talk  by  an  order  to  the 
guards. 


THE  MIGHT  OF  RIGHT        271 

' '  Take  her  back  to  the  prison  from  whence  you 
brought  her." 

They  seized  her  and  carried  her  back  to  the  dun- 
geon in  the  castle.  So  this  little  sister  of  the 
saints  was  thrust  again  into  the  iron  cage  in  care 
of  those  black-hearted  servants  of  evil  who  had 
lost  all  but  the  forms  of  men. 

8.  Forcing  the  So-called  Relapse  into  Heresy 

The  same  afternoon  on  which  she  was  returned 
to  the  military  prison,  the  little  bunch  of  inquisi- 
tors, who  gloried  most  in  their  coarse  and  brutal 
ways  toward  her,  visited  her  in  prison  with  some 
feminine  clothing.  They  reported  that  she  was 
duly  humble  and  contrite.  They  said  that  they 
had  made  her  take  off  her  soldier's  uniform  in 
their  presence,  to  make  sure  it  was  done,  and 
caused  her  to  put  on  woman's  clothing. 

They  said  she  had  done/his  in  the  hope  of  be- 
ing taken  to  one  of  the  Cnurch  prisons,  but  they 
would  not  do  so. 

Such  masters  of  merciless  ^injustice  are  not  in 
any  way  believable.  But  it  is  known  that  five  of 
the  most  brutish  British  troopers  were  placed  in 
charge  of  her  and  for  two  days  allowed  no  one 
but  themselves  within  the  prison.  Nothing  can  be 
known  of  those  two  days.  It  is  well  known  that 
hardly  a  soldier  in  the  English  or  Burgundian 
army  believed  that  any  victory  was  possible  as 
long  as  the  witch  of  the  Armagnacs  was  alive. 


272 JOAN  OF  ARC 

She  had  no  rights  as  woman  or  warrior  for  them 
to  respect.  Brutality  was  their  crucifixion  and 
vulgarity  their  crown  of  thorns. 

Trinity  Sunday  came  and  she  woke  hearing  the 
bells  ringing.  She  asked  the  guards  to  unchain 
her  so  she  could  rise.  One  of  them  did  so,  at  the 
same  time  taking  away  her  woman's  clothing  and 
throwing  back  to  her  the  soldier's  clothing  that 
she  had  been  forbidden  to  wear  on  pain  of  death 
at  the  stake. 

It  is  said  that  she  plead  in  anguish  with  them, 
that  she  knelt  and  prayed,  but  they  mocked  her 
and  abused  her,  and  insulted  her  till  she  put  on 
the  forbidden  clothing.  Then  the  doors  were 
opened.  Witnesses  came  in  crying,  "  Behold,  the 
witch  is  back  in  her  wickedness." 

Lord  Warwick  came  and  beheld  the  dreadful 
sight!  Then  all  Rouen  was  in  great  excitement. 
They  would  soon  see  the  burning  of  a  witch. 
Manchon,  the  notary,  writes  of  this  that  the  sol- 
diers were  so  vicious  he  did  not  dare  go  near  the 
prisoner,  without  safe  conduct  from  Lord  War- 
wick. A  priest,  who  was  one  of  the  committee 
to  call  at  her  cell,  was  so  roughly  thrust  out,  back 
into  the  street,  that  he  was  severely  wounded,  and 
so  could  account  for  their  violence  only  on  the 
theory  that  they  were  bewitched. 

All  the  great  conclave  had  left  Rouen  excepting 
the  merciless  prosecutors  who  were  in  the  work 
to  do  her  to  death.  They  were  there  ready  to  con- 
tinue their  work.  But  many  of  the  priests  doubt- 


-S^zS^^x/yi^,  ^fc~$j 


JOAN  OF  ARC  WITH  THE  SWORD  OF  FIERBOIS 
The  Statue  by  Princess  Marie  of  Orleans  in  the  Musee  de  Versailles 


ed  that  the  woman  was  being  given  a  fair  chance 
for  her  life.  Marguerie  managed  to  get  some 
woman's  clothing  to  her  in  the  evening,  but  sure 
enough  she  refused  to  take  off  the  clothing  in 
which  she  had  fought  the  battles  of  her  Lord, 
though  she  knew  this  meant  death  at  the  stake. 
Was  this  La  Pucelle  revived,  or  was  all  this  change 
untrue,  as  reported  by  her  enemies,  and  had  there 
never  been  any  change  in  the  woman  of  wonderful 
faith  f  Is  not  her  long  unimpeachable  consistency 
to  be  trusted  rather  than  the  words  of  the  most 
treacherous  and  merciless  fanatics  in  history! 
The  comparison  is  hardly  worthy  of  considera- 
tion. Joan  of  Arc  was  sure  of  God  and  sure  of  a 
home  in  Paradise. 

9.  Those  That  Kill  the  Body. 

She  had  accepted  the  change  from  death  at  the 
stake  to  imprisonment  for  life,  having  nothing  but 
* '  the  bread  of  sorrow  and  the  water  of  affliction. ' ' 
Her  consolation  was  that  this  would  take  her  from 
the  inhuman  varlets  who  lived  with  her  in  the  iron 
cage.  Henceforth  she  would  be  done  to  death  by 
Christians  and  not  by  beasts. 

But  it  was  not  planned  by  her  enemies  to  be  so. 
The  University  of  Paris  wanted  recantation  in 
proof  of  its  religious  powers  and  in  defeat  for  the 
priests  supporting  the  King  of  France.  After 
that,  the  Earl  of  Warwick  wanted  her  death,  be- 
cause the  English  soldiers  believed  battles  could 


274 JOAN  OF  ARC 

not  be  won,  and  that  their  own  lives  were  imper- 
iled so  long  as  the  Armagnac  witch  was  left  to 
pray  for  the  success  of  the  soldiers  under  King 
Charles !  But  that  was  no  excuse,  and  more  than 
one  prominent  Englishman  had  expressed  great 
admiration  for  La  Pucelle.  Let  the  Church  kill 
her.  The  infamous  henchmen  of  the  English  ruler 
had  it  well  planned  when  they  returned  the  con- 
demned girl  to  the  remorseless  care  of  the  ruffians 
in  the  lonely  cell. 

She  had  yielded,  so  they  said,  to  the  Church 
in  its  decision  that  God  required  her  to  put  off  her 
soldier's  clothes  for  woman's  wear.  Her  own 
faith  might  yield  that  much  without  losing  the 
symbolism  of  her  mission  for  her  country  and  her 
great  work  in  the  cause  of  God. 

On  Monday,  twenty-eight  of  her  persecutors 
found  her  in  her  soldier's  clothes,  broken,  crushed, 
her  body  crumpled  like  the  disfigured  image  of  a 
saint. 

De  la  Pierre,  a  Dominican  Friar,  who  saw  her, 
said,  "I  beheld  her  weeping,  her  face  covered  with 
tears,  bruised  and  outraged,  so  that  I  was  full  of 
pity  and  compassion." 

We  hope  for  the  awful  shame  of  it  all  that  there 
was  one  who  looked  upon  her  with  sympathy,  but 
we  do  not  know  if  his  compassion  was  meant  for 
her  unjust  suffering  or  for  her  sins  of  heresy. 
He  had  seen  her  noble  face  and  large  bright  eyes 
before  and  he  knew  she  had  suffered  at  the  hands 


THE  MIGHT  OF  RIGHT        275 

of  man  more  than  the  worst  that  has  been  allowed 
in  imagination  to  the  devils  of  hell. 

The  Master  of  Galilee  like  the  Maid  from  Dom- 
remy  had  a  faith  that  was  for  the  salvation  of 
the  world.  Though  each  in  an  hour  of  despair 
might  cry  out,  "My  God!  My  God!  Why  hast 
Thou  forsaken  me!"  yet  each  kept  the  faith  unto 
the  end  as  the  will  of  the  Father  in  heaven.  All 
who  suffer  may  think  on  these  things  and  re- 
member those  who  suffered  more,  and  yet  were 
of  unconquerable  soul. 

The  God  of  Right  is  not  long  mocked  by  the 
preposterous  assumptions  of  will-made  lives.  The 
right  thing  on  the  right  way  will  always  arrive 
at  the  predestined  goal  of  right.  It  was  so  with 
the  life-meaning  of  this  wonderful  woman.  Qui- 
cheret,  whose  researches  were  largely  the  means 
of  restoring  the  lost  knowledge  of  her,  prophesied 
a  remarkable  ideal  for  the  coming  womanhood 
when  he  wrote,  "The  saint  of  the  Middle  Ages, 
whom  the  Middle  Ages  rejected,  will  become  the 
saint  of  the  modern  world." 


CHAPTER  XV 

PAYING  UNTO  WILL  THE  FINAL  PRICE 
OF  FAITH 

1.  The  Terrible  Meek 

THE  woman  of  unconquerable  faith  made  no 
complaint  except  to  reproach  her  lords  of  the 
Church  for  not  placing  her  in  a  Church  prison 
where  she  could  go  to  mass,  receive  her  Savior, 
have  woman  companions  and  be  taken  out  of 
irons,  away  from  her  inhuman  guards. 

That  twenty-eight  men  could  look  upon  her, 
eager  to  see  the  flames  about  her,  proves  only 
what  men  can  be,  for  there  are  legions  of  such  ex- 
amples, comparable  in  their  evil  only  to  the  mad- 
ness of  beasts. 

Faith  has  never  led  any  one  to  anything  but 
hope  and  love,  will  has  never  led  any  one  to  any- 
thing but  prejudice  and  hate.  Any  one  who  knows 
these  will-made  dispositions  and  the  traits  of 
them,  as  being  yet  the  heritage  of  human  condi- 
tions, must  pause  and  readjust  his  judgment,  if 
he  believes  that  the  persuasions  of  peace  are 
enough  to  change  any  will  to  the  faith  that  con- 
tains liberty  or  justice  or  order  or  truth  for  man. 
The  beast  has  never  been  driven  out  that  way, 

276 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       277 

and  whatever  forms  it  takes  the  beast  is  the  same 
now  as  it  was  around  the  iron  cell  of  Joan  of 
Arc. 

In  a  voice  weak  from  unspeakable  suffering, 
she  said  to  the  clerical  wolf -pack  around  her,  even 
as  written  by  her  enemies  in  their  records,  "I 
would  rather  do  penance  once  for  all  (that  is,  die 
at  the  stake)  than  to  endure  any  longer  the  suffer- 
ing of  this  prison.  I  have  done  nothing  against 
God  or  the  faith,  in  spite  of  all  they  have  made  me 
revoke.  What  was  in  the  schedule  of  abjuration, 
I  did  not  understand.  I  did  not  intend  to  revoke 
anything  except  according  to  God's  good  pleas- 
ure. "  i 

Thus  all  they  had  made  out  of  her  repudiation 
was  repudiated,  for  she  had  never  been  false  to 
her  faith,  her  country  or  her  God. 

It  was  enough.  All  their  mad  learning  and  all 
their  diabolical  cruelties  to  crush  a  woman's  faith 
had  failed,  and  the  world  had  a  never-dying  vision 
of  the  unconquerable  strength  that  exists  in  the 
sustaining  belief  that  righteousness  of  soul  is  one 
with  the  Lord  of  the  Universe. 

Pierre  Cauchon,  Bishop  of  Beauvais,  now  had 
his  revenge  in  the  name  of  divine  salvation.  He 
had  at  last  conquered  the  woman  who  had  driven 
him,  and  his  associate  betrayers  of  their  coun- 
try, out  of  his  rich  holdings  in  France.  He  was 
nobly  revenged,  for  she  would  now  die  at  the 
stake,  excommunicated  from  the  Church,  with  all 


278 JOAN  OF  ARC 

the  dreadful  consequences  of  eternity.  His  work 
was  about  to  be  successfully  ended! 

As  he  came  out  of  the  prison  \7ith  his  crowd  of 
witnesses,  he  met  the  Earl  of  Warwick. 

"Farewell,  farewell!"  he  exclaimed  proudly. 
"It  is  done!  Be  of  good  cheer.  You  can  dine 
with  a  good  appetite.  We  have  caught  her  at 
last." 

But  it  was  not  done.  He  did  not  win  the  victory 
and  can  not  win  it  so  long  as  humanity  can  real- 
ize the  difference  between  the  will  of  the  Bishop 
of  Beauvais  and  the  faith  of  Joan  of  Arc. 

She  was  true  to  her  divine  meaning  at  the  end 
of  the  third  day,  when  no  doubt  her  cell  had  be- 
come no  less  to  her  than  hell.  No  record  of  it, 
except  in  fragments,  has  been  kept.  Perhaps 
even  the  wolves  at  the  feast  feared  posterity  that 
much.  No  one  wants  to  know.  We  want  to  think 
of  a  higher  level  for  the  human  will.  This  much 
we  do  know  that  the  dark  silence  of  those  days 
covers  unspeakable  anguish  and  despair,  for  this 
child  of  innocence  and  of  God.  Faith  superior 
to  this  has  never  been  known  on  earth.  It  is  the 
divine  inheritance  of  womanhood  for  the  making 
of  the  human  race. 

2.  Why  They  Hated  Her  unto  Death 

In  all  her  life  she  never  had  an  unkind  word 
for  any  one  and  in  all  her  unsurpassable  suffering 
there  is  never  a  word  of  any  complaint  against 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       279 

any  one.  Though  this  might  have  been  an  inten- 
tional omission  of  her  enemies,  yet  it  is  consist- 
ent with  her  character. 

Her  entire  condemnation  by  the  Church  cen- 
tered in  her  refusal  to  submit  to  the  authority  of 
her  inquisitors  as  the  militant  infallible  Church 
to  pass  on  the  truth  between  her  and  God.  Their 
whole  mind  was  set  on  branding  her  faith  as  of 
Satan  because  it  opposed  their  interests.  But  she 
defeated  them  in  that  thing  and  they  sent  her  to 
the  stake  on  account  of  the  old  Jewish  law  against 
a  woman  wearing  men's  apparel  as  laid  down  in 
Deuteronomy  22:  5.  This  was  the  ancient  Jew- 
ish law  used  against  her :  ' '  The  women  shall  not 
wear  that  which  pertaineth  to  a  man  .  .  .  for  all 
that  so  do  are  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord  their 
God." 

Reason,  for  the  sake  of  the  will  to  hate,  thus 
ignored  all  her  past  in  order  to  assert  against  this 
innocent  woman  an  authority  claiming  all  the 
powers  of  heaven  and  earth. 
i  The  ecclesiastical  organization  hated  her  be- 
cause all  she  had  done  was  outside  of  its  control, 
the  military  organization  of  her  King  hated  her 
because  she  did  what  it  could  not  do,  and  that 
most  of  the  time  against  its  help  and  advice.  The 
King  liked  to  profit  by  her  success,  but  he  disliked 
the  controversy  that  raged  about  his  ears  concern- 
ing the  woman.  Her  enemies  were  furious  at  be- 
ing beaten  by  this  mere  girL  As  their  cause  was 
right  hers  was  wrong,  therefore  she  was  of  the 


280 JOAN  OF  ARC 

devil.  At  length  all  were  willing  for  her  to  be 
rooted  out  of  the  memory  of  human  beings.  By 
indisputable  authority  having  almighty  power, 
this  peasant  girl  of  Domremy  must  be  proven  a 
liar,  a  wanton,  a  witch,  a  heretic  and  a  child  of 
Satan,  so  that  every  memory  of  her  would  be 
anathema,  and  to  that  purpose  was  concentrated 
all  the  mightiest  means  and  powers  in  the  world. 

She  longed  to  be  considered  loyal  to  the  Church. 
It  had  been  the  body  of  her  mind  through  all  her 
life.  Even  as  the  brief  schedule  of  repudiation 
was  being  read,  she  piteously  called  on  Saint  Mi- 
chael to  help  her  because  she  could  not  understand 
it. 

Even  if  it  was  a  moment  of  weakness,  she  was 
a  young  girl  so  afraid  of  the  fire !  God  help  her ! 

Even  in  the  midst  of  it  she  cried  out  in  repudi- 
ation of  the  repudiation  they  were  reading.  * '  My 
deeds  I  have  done  by  God's  order.  I  charge  no 
one  with  them.  If  there  be  any  fault  found  in 
them,  the  blame  is  on  me,  on  me  alone.'7 

Saint  Peter  thrice  denied  his  Lord,  who  had 
been  a  personal  companion,  and  who  was  then 
a  prisoner.  He  denied  his  Lord  under  no  con- 
straint and  from  the  mere  accusation  of  an  hum- 
ble servant  girl. 

Not  so  this  girl  of  faith,  this  wonderful  woman 
from  Domremy.  On  that  rock  Christ  built  his 
church,  the  rock  of  faith  against  which  the  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail,  and  so,  the  just  shall  live 
by  faith. 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       281 

3.  A  Vision  of  Faith 

The  lofty  purity  of  her  life  reveals  the  possibil- 
ity inherent  in  every  mind  for  the  tie  that  binds 
together  the  righteous  of  the  social  universe. 

The  picture  is  irresistible.  From  the  vision  of 
this  wonderful  child  playing  with  the  village  chil- 
dren around  the  Fairy  Tree,  we  go  to  the  ecstatic 
little  girl  looking  into  the  great  white  light  and 
listening  as  the  vesper  bells  ring  to  the  voices 
of  her  soul  whose  meaning  could  come  from  no' 
beauty  of  life  less  than  God.  Then  she  pleads 
with  coarse  governors  to  lead  her  to  the  King. 
Youthful  knights  full  of  the  blazing  zeal  of  aspir- 
ing manhood  feel  the  inspiration  of  this  wonder- 
ful spirit  and  swear  to  devote  their  lives  and  for- 
tunes to  her  cause.  She  stands  unafraid  before 
courtiers  and  Church  dignitaries  in  the  presence 
of  a  King  and  names  the  wrong  which  she  has 
come  to  banish  in  the  name  of  right  and  God. 
Doubting  Doctors  of  the  Law  in  the  name  of  the 
highest  authority  available  to  man  question  her 
in  vain  to  find  a  place  of  weakness  in  her  claim, 
and  it  can  not  be  done.  Then  she  takes  the  sav- 
age bands  of  ruffians,  ravaging  the  country  in  the 
name  of  the  King,  and  they  become  decent  men 
worthy  of  the  noblest  name  of  soldiers  redeeming 
their  native  land.  They  go  where  her  standard 
goes  and  it  strikes  the  hosts  of  her  country 's  ene- 
mies like  the  wrath  of  God.  She  stands  in  the 
great  Cathedral  at  Rheims  and  sees  the  Dauphin 


282 JOAN  OF  ARC 

crowned  King  of  France.  Then  she  is  taken  cap- 
tive and  sold  to  the  powers  that  in  fear  and  de- 
feat would  take  their  vengeance  out  on  the  dam- 
nation and  destruction  of  this  one  who  could  save 
others  but  herself  she  could  not  save.  And  yet 
they  were  mistaken.  They  did  not  know  of  the 
salvation  wherewith  she  was  saved.  For  long 
•  months  they  played  with  her  mind  as  the  tiger  cat 
plays  with  its  quarry.  They  beat  upon  her  nerves 
with  every  instrument  of  torture  that  could  be 
devised  in  treachery  or  brutality,  but  they  failed, 
showing  that  all  hell  can  not  weaken  the  soul  that 
is  stayed  on  God.  The  Eock  of  Ages  sustained 
her  cross  and  eternity  fixed  the  crown  of  life  upon 
her  head.  True  enough  a  cloud  came  over  her 
and  hid  her  from  mortal  eyes.  She  was  smitten  as 
from  the  hand  of  fate.  She  is  outcast  from  all 
the  peace  of  heaven  and  earth.  The  flames  claim 
her  and  oblivion  receives  her  ashes  in  the  waters 
of  the  Seine.  But  her  faith  endures  like  the  white 
light  over  the  churchyard  of  Domremy.  The 
voice  of  its  meaning  sounds  in  the  music  of  every 
soul  and  La  Pucelle  takes  her  place  among  the 
Saints  of  light  whose  heroic  ideal  is  the  salvation 
and  perfection  of  humanity. 

4.  The  Darkness  of  Those  Who  Hate  the  Light 

We  have  glimpses  of  many  characteristic  events 
that  occurred  in  the  period  of  their  secret  work. 
They  thought  they  were  making  history,  even  as 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       283 

many  have  thought  since  then  to  the  present  time, 
but,  contrary  to  their  reason  and  will,  history  was 
making  them.  Though  the  merciful  Church  had 
juggled  some  kind  of  a  recantation,  she  insisted 
all  the  time  that  she  meant,  "God  first  served," 
and  for  that  she  could  not  be  a  Church  prisoner 
properly  attended  by  her  own  sex,  but  must 
be  left  to  the  ruffians  of  the  iron  cell  in  a  military 
dungeon!  As  they  found  her  wearing  soldier's 
clothes,  after  being  ordered  not  to  do  so,  she  was 
a  relapsed  heretic  and  must  be  burnt. 

The  machinery  of  the  inquisition  now  moved 
swiftly  deathwards.  On  May  29,  forty-two 
judges  unanimously  decided  that  she  must  be 
burnt  as  a  relapsed  heretic.  They  appointed  the 
following  day  for  her  to  be  put  through  the  cere- 
mony of  abandonment  by  the  Church,  which  meant 
that,  according  to  law,  the  military  authority,  then 
held  by  the  English,  must  execute  the  sentence  of 
death,  as  did  the  Roman  soldiers  when  the  Jew- 
ish authorities  condemned  Christ  to  be  crucified. 
In  both  cases  alike,  a  foreign  military  power  was 
required  to  carry  out  the  orders  of  the  Church. 

The  great  spectacle  was  prepared  suitable  to 
so  notorious  an  occasion.  The  English  and  Bur- 
gundians  were  about  to  be  avenged  of  an  enemy 
who  had  shattered  their  hold  on  the  Kingdom  of 
France,  and  the  ecclesiastical  body  was  about  to 
be  relieved  from  one  who  took  orders  from  God 
rather  than  from  the  Church. 

Immense  platforms  were  erected  near  the  stake 


284 JOAN  OF  ARC 

so  that  the  noble  heads  of  the  Church  and  the 
various  secular  magistrates  could  see  the  final 
penance  of  their  enemy,  this  nineteen-year-old 
girl,  La  Pucelle  d 'Orleans. 

The  helpless  mass  of  people  did  not  want  that 
cruel  thing  done.  They  were  overawed  by  the 
great  learning  that  was  believed  to  be  their 
Church  and  their  salvation,  they  were  enslaved 
under  the  power  of  lance  and  sword,  and  yet, 
they  knelt  in  their  homes,  beseeching  the  saints  to 
have  mercy  on  the  girl  that  was  to  suffer  the 
supreme  penance  on  that  day.  They  were  on  their 
knees  in  public  places  wherever  the  soldiers  did 
not  threaten  them,  and  there  they  cried  aloud  for 
the  mercy  of  the  Lord.  Beneath  the  prison  walls 
they  held  lighted  candles,  weeping  and  praying 
against  the  merciless  inhumanity  of  men  in  high 
places.  In  the  long  record  of  hideous  masteries, 
there  are  on  record  countless  numbers  no  less 
abominable  before  all  mind,  but  there  are  none 
more  long  drawn  out  in  anguish  imposed  by  the 
leaders  of  learning  and  civilization. 

5.  The  Final  Announcement 

Martin  the  Monk  was  chosen  to  announce  the 
fate  set  for  her  by  the  judges,  as  a  relapsed  here- 
tic. The  black  company  with  their  foul  judgment 
in  the  name  of  God  came  suddenly  and  silently 
into  her  cell.  The  eight  or  nine  months,  unparal- 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       285 

leled  in  desperate  inhumanity  to  a  girl,  were  about 
to  come  to  an  end. 

She  had  been  expecting,  doubtless  often  pray- 
ing for  a  swift  relief,  even  such  relief  as  this,  that 
her  Lord  come  quickly.  But  these  black-cowled 
men,  with  the  Satan-made  brain,  came  in  with 
cruel  eyes,  and  they  told  her  with  all  the  brutal 
blows  of  deadly  words. 

After  all  La  Pucelle  was  only  a  simple  peasant 
girl,  and,  when  she  was  told  that  she  was  to  be 
burnt  that  day,  it  struck  her  with  terror  and  dis- 
may. The  youth  and  the  woman  in  her  could 
hardly  endure  the  cruel  vision  of  pain  and  death. 
She  cried  out  against  such  pitiless  injustice,  but 
the  monsters  of  ruthless  frightfulness  understood 
no  meaning  but  force  in  mastery  or  defeat,  even 
when  the  object  was  only  a  helpless  young  girl. 

"Alas!"  she  cried  in  an  anguish  of  weeping, 
' '  how  horribly  and  cruelly  they  treat  me,  that  my 
body,  which  I  have  never  soiled,  should  be  burnt 
to  ashes!" 

But,  faith  quickly  recovered  her  spirit,  or  her 
spirit  quickly  recovered  faith,  and  she  cried,  once 
more  alight  with  the  beauty  of  heaven  in  her  soul, 
' 1 1  thank  God !  To-day  I  shall  be  in  Paradise. ' ' 

The  black  misery  of  it  all  faded  away  in  the 
more  precious  hope  and  she  became  calm. 

At  this  time,  Pierre  Morrice  came  in,  and  she 
asked,  "Master  Pierre,  where  shall  I  be  to-day 
at  evening?" 


£86 JOAN  OF  ARC 

I     "Hast  thou  true  hope  in  God?"  he  evasively 
asked. 

"I  have,"  she  firmly  answered,  once  more  lay- 
ing hold  fast  to  her  unconquerable  faith,  "and, 
Christ  helping  me,  I  shall  this  day  be  in  Para- 
dise." 

Loiseleur,  the  betrayer  of  her  confessional,  en- 
tered as  she  said  this.    He  is  described  as  being 
nervous  and  haggard.    At  that  time  only  his  own 
wretched  soul  knew  what  a  traitor  he  had  been  to 
Jeanne,  to  his  Church  and  his  God. 
i     To  ease  his  own  burning  conscience,  he  tried  to 
question  her  in  this  hour  of  death  to  bring  out 
more  guilt  against  her,  but  she  looked  into  his  re- 
morseful eyes  and  gave  him  answers  that  with- 
ered all  the  excuses  in  his  soul. 
'     Cauchon,    the    arch-conspirator    against    her 
honor  and  her  life,  now  came  in. 
1     Through  her  tears,  the  implacable  adversary 
loomed  before  her. 

"Bishop,"  she  cried  out,  "I  die  by  you." 

"Not  so,"  he  replied.  "You  die  because  you 
have  returned  to  your  iniquities." 

It  appears  that  the  question  of  what  she  wore 
had  become  the  greatest  of  all  her  crimes. 

"Alas!  Alas!"  she  spoke  with  pathetic  re- 
buke. "If  you  had  put  me  into  the  prison  of  the 
Church,  and  given  me  fit  and  proper  keepers,  this 
had  not  happened.  I  appeal  to  God  against  you," 
and  somewhere  the  great  God  heard.  « 

The  last  rites  of  the  Church,  after  long  plead- 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       287 

ing,  were  granted  her.  A  carriage  rumbled  up  to 
the  door  of  her  prison.  Six  hundred  horsemen 
holding  aloft  their  lances  arrived  to  escort  her  to 
her  final  martyrdom.  The  great  assemblage  of 
partisans  was  already  impatient  clamoring  for  the 
show.  The  platforms  were  filled  with  robed 
power  in  the  shape  of  men,  masters  of  men  and 
the  representatives  of  God! 

• 

6.  According  to  Law 

The  meaning  of  all  this  has  remained  un- 
changed. The  methods  change  and  the  victims  are 
made  desolate  in  other  ways.  Freedom  is  still  the 
achievement  of  order  in  the  rights  of  man  for  the 
best  ways  to  live  best. 

As  we  go  with  the  woman  of  faith  to  the  stake, 
we  must  remember  that  her  faith  had  no  compro- 
mise with  treason  to  man  or  God.  She  believed 
that  right  is  might  because  order  has  the  intelli- 
gence of  all  time.  She  knew  that  no  one  can  rea- 
son with  a  conquering  will  because  its  right  is 
might,  having  no  measure  outside  of  self. 

We  may  be  sure  that  one  so  clear-minded  as 
La  Pucelle  had  no  illusions.  There  is  no  record 
that  she  attempted  to  reason  her  inquisitors  out 
of  their  will.  Long  before  this  she  had  advised 
the  King  that  it  was  useless  to  reason  with  the 
Duke  of  Burgundy  or  the  Commanders  of  the 
English.  Diplomacy  with  masters  is  worthless. 
There,  was  only  one  thing  to  do  to  save  France 


288 JOAN  OF  ARC 

and  that  was  to  drive  the  alien  enemy  out  of  the 
land  by  force,  and  to  deprive  the  home  enemies 
of  all  their  profit  by  defeat.  So  it  is  now.  The 
world  is  safe  for  democracy  only  as  its  enemies 
are  overpowered,  the  world  is  safe  for  humanity 
only  as  might  can  find  no  way  to  the  spoils  of 
conquest,  and  the  world  is  safe  for  the  individual 
only  as  order  becomes  so  organized  that  no  one 
dares  risk  even  so  much  as  to  gamble  with  any 
events  against  the  moral  system  of  faith  in  a 
social  world. 

Whenever  there  remains  any  means  for  an  in- 
dividual or  any  group  to  achieve  mastery  it  will 
do  it,  and,  if  frightfulness  will  help  even  in  the 
least  to  retain  it,  ruthless  frightfulness  will  be 
used  to  its  utmost  success.  The  valorous  Maid  of 
Orleans  was  for  us  a  revelation  of  the  conflict  be- 
tween faith  and  will  whose  meaning  contains  the 
whole  story  of  our  human  struggle.  It  is  an  epic 
of  liberty  and  law.  It  is  a  masterpiece  of  freedom 
and  government.  There  can  be  no  more  illustri- 
ous vision  than  this  of  individual  or  group  mas- 
tery in  conflict  with  loyalty  to  the  meaning  of 
humanity. 

La  Pucelle  met  the  hour  of  great  sacrifice  with 
all  the  might  of  right  sustaining  her  against  the 
masters  of  that  day.  Soldiers  seized  her,  tore  off 
her  soldier's  clothing  and  put  upon  her  the  long 
white  robe  customary  for  criminals  who  were  to 
suffer  the  penance  of  fire.  On  her  head  was 
placed  a  white  paper  miter,  not  unlike  in  signifi- 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       289 

cance  the  crown  of  thorns,  fourteen  centuries  be- 
fore, and  on  this  head-dress  was  written  in  large 
letters,  " Heretic,  relapsed,  Apostate,  Idolatress." 

She  walked  before  the  Bishops  to  the  carriage 
and  was  helped  to  the  seat.  The  word  went  from 
lip  to  lip  on  down  among  the  hosts  eager  for  her 
death.  Soon  would  there  come  palsy  to  the  arms 
that  had  waved  the  banner  of  victory  against  the 
foes  of  France;  soon  would  all  swiftness  depart 
forever  from  the  feet  that  had  run  jubilantly  the 
way  ordained  of  God. 

Martin,  her  last  confessor,  coming  through  the 
packed  lines  of  glittering  horsemen,  mounted  the 
carriage  to  her  side,  and  then  Massieu  took  a 
place  on  the  other  side  of  her.  The  order  to  go 
was  given,  when  there  was  a  strange  cry  and  a 
violent  commotion  in  the  crowd  near  her.  A  man 
with  wild  disheveled  hair  reached  the  carriage, 
climbed  up  to  her  and  threw  himself  screaming 
at  her  feet. 

"Pardon,  Jeanne!  In  the  name  of  God,  par- 
don!" 

Loiseleur  had  done  some  better  than  Judas. 
He  had  cried  out  for  pardon  to  the  God  of  Faith ! 
Mercy  was  there  and  we  may  hope  that  he  re- 
ceived some  reward  for  being  a  better  man  in  his 
repentance  than  any  there  of  whom  we  have  rec- 
ord. But  a  soldier  dragged  him  shrieking  away. 
It  is  said  that  the  calm-souled  victim  of  his  priest- 
ly treachery  stretched  out  her  hand  toward  him 
in  token  of  forgiveness  and  peace.  The  Earl  of 


290 JOAN  OF  ARC 

Warwick  sent  him  away  from  Rouen,  no  one 
knows  where. 

Nicholas  de  Houppeville,  a  noted  lawyer  who 
had  refused  to  have  any  part  in  the  iniquitous 
proceedings,  says,  as  she  came  forth  from  the 
dungeon  into  the  light  of  day,  and  looked  over  tie 
scene  before  her,  he  heard  her  exclaim, '  *  0  Rouen, 
Rouen,  is  it  here  that  I  must  die ! ' '  He  said  that 
it  was  more  than  he  could  endure  and  he  went  back 
sick  of  heart  and  soul  to  his  home. 

The  cart  was  driven  on  in  the  midst  of  the  cav- 
alrymen, followed  by  a  horrible  rabble  of  cursing, 
shouting  people,  through  the  long  narrow  streets 
to  the  open  space  before  the  churchyard  of  the 
Cathedral.  There  she  was  led  up  the  steps  by 
Cauchon  to  the  seat  where  she  was  to  listen  to  the 
sermon  of  damnation  and  death. 

7.  A  Public  Vindication  of  the  Mercy  of  Men 

On  a  huge  tablet  set  up  near  the  stake,  in  letters 
written  so  large  that  the  multitude  could  all  see, 
was  the  verdict  of  condemnation  by  the  judges, 
that  awful  caricature  of  human  intelligence  as 
well  as  of  social  justice,  which -declared  her  to  be 
"a  liar,  a  wanton,  a  heretic,  a  blasphemer,  a  schis- 
matic and  apostate." 

On  the  top  of  the  stake  was  a  huge  scroll  bear- 
ing in  large  letters  the  words: 

"Jehanne,  who  hath  caused  herself  to  be  called  the  Maid,  a 
liar,  pernicious,  deceiver  of  the  people,  soothsayer,  supersti- 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       291 

tious,  a  blasphemer  against  God,  presumptuous,  miscreant, 
boaster,  idolatress,  cruel,  dissolute,  an  invoker  of  devils,  apos- 
tate, schismatic  and  heretic." 

Even  her  Lord  at  the  age  of  thirty-three  did  not 
bear  a  worse  crown  of  thorns.  He  was  reviled 
as  claiming  to  be  king,  she  as  a  daughter  of  God. 

The  people  were  kept  from  the  elevated  plat- 
forms by  the  soldiers.  They  climbed  upon  near-by 
houses  and  wherever  they  could  find  a  place  to  sit 
upon  the  monuments  and  tombs  of  the  churchyard. 
One  huge  platform  contained  the  judges  and  noted 
personages.  Another  only  a  few  feet  away  con- 
tained the  preacher,  the  prisoner,  the  two  record- 
ing clerks,  the  officers  of  the  inquisition,  and  the 
prison  guard.  The  stake  was  about  twenty  steps 
away,  thrusting  its  gruesome  form  up  through  a 
huge  pile  of  wood  plentifully  sprinkled  with  pitch 
and  rosin.  The  executioner  stood  ready  with  his 
long  pole  to  stir  the  flames  when  lighted  and  with 
a  pot  of  sulphur  in  his  hand  to  be  used  in  case 
mercy  was  needed. 

Nicole  Midy,  the  Archbishop  of  Errard,  had 
been  very  appropriately  selected  to  deliver  the 
death-sermon.  He  chose  as  his  text  the  twelfth 
chapter  of  Corinthians,  with  special  reference  to 
the  twenty-sixth  verse, ' '  If  one  member  suffer,  all 
the  members  suffer  with  it." 

His  famous  eloquence  was  now  loudly  used  to 
declaim  against  the  heretic  enemies  of  man  and 
God.  Nearing  the  conclusion,  he  turned  to  deliver 


!292 JOAN  OF  ARC 

the  final  denunciation  direct  to  her  against  whom 
he  had  striven  for  an  hour  to  inflame  the  people. 

"I  tell  you,  Joan,"  he  said  fiercely,  "that  your 
King  is  heretic  and  schismatic. " 

This  was  an  insult  to  her  faith  in  France  that 
she  could  not  endure.  The  King  to  her  was  an 
office  more  than  a  man.  It  was  the  cause  to  which 
she  had  been  born,  the  heaven-born  right  of 
France. 

"By  my  faith,  my  lord,'*  she  cried,  "saving 
your  reverence,  I  do  dare  say  and  to  swear  at  the 
risk  of  my  life,  that  he  is  the  noblest  of  all  Chris- 
tians, loving  the  faith  and  the  Church." 

"Stop  her!"  yelled  Cauchon,  but  she  had  said 
it,  and  defended  with  dying  breath  her  loyalty  to 
her  country  as  to  her  God. 

Manchon,  the  clerk-notary,  wrote  opposite  to 
this  reply  on  the  parchment,  still  preserved  in  the 
National  Library  of  Paris,  the  words, '"Responsio 
Mortifera,"  that  is,  the  response  bearing  death. 

Then  the  Archbishop  slowly  pronounced  the  for- 
mula of  rejection  from  all  rights  to  the  mercy  of 
man  and  God, ' '  Jeanne,  go  in  Peace !  The  Church 
can  no  longer  protect  thee." 

With  a  gesture  of  contempt  he  put  her  away 
from  all  hope.  The  will  of  man  had  finished  its 
task. 

At  this  she  fell  forward  upon  her  knees  and  be- 
gan praying.  Such  a  prayer  it  was  as  establishes 
forever  her  faith  as  that  of  one  of  the  saints  of 
God.  Her  soul  poured  forth  in  cries  to  her  Savior 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       293 

as  one  more  merciful  than  these  men.  She  for- 
gave all  who  had  brought  her  to  that  hour  and 
asked  all  her  enemies  everywhere  to  forgive  her 
for  all  she  may  have  done  amiss.  She  invoked  the 
help  of  her  beloved  saints  and  in  joy  cried  out  that 
she  saw  the  light.  She  accepted  death  as  a  wel- 
come deliverance.  She  thanked  God  that  He  had 
been  her  guide  in  all  that  she  had  done  that  was 
right.  Her  revelations  had  never  failed  her.  On 
and  on  she  prayed  for  half  an  hour,  the  sweetest, 
noblest  prayer  that  ever  fell  from  mortal  lips. 
The  Bishop  of  Thourenne,  mercenary  and  sordid 
beyond  belief,  had  helped  to  sell  her  to  this  doom, 
but  now  he  was  broken  clown,  sobbing  and  praying 
for  forgiveness. 

The  writer  describing  the  scene  says  that  the 
Cardinal  of  England  was  staring  out  into  the  sky 
as  through  a  glassy  mist,  and  the  Bishop  of  Beau- 
vais,  hardened  with  inhumanity  worse  than  any 
in  all  that  guilty  mob,  hid  his  face  in  his  arms 
upon  the  table  and  wiped  the  tears  from  his  eyes. 

How  there  could  be  any  heart  in  them  to  be 
touched,  considering  all  the  cruel  work  they  had 
done  may  be  left  as  one  of  the  mysteries  with 
those  who  were  present  and  described  these 
scenes.  It  is  perhaps  most  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  it  was  needful  for  them  to  pity  her  even  unto 
tears  in  order  to  satisfy  their  belief  that  they  were 
merciful  and  pious  representatives  of  God.  The 
perverted  mind  is  an  inhuman  mind,  brutal  as  any 
beast. 


294 JOAN  OF  ARC 

8.  The  Final  Sentence 

In  those  days  of  strongly  mingled  law,  super- 
stition and  respect  for  custom,  it  was  so  that  when 
the  Church  Militant  delivered  its  victim  to  the  Sec- 
ular Arm,  the  heretic  was  taken  to  the  town  hall 
and  ceremoniously  sentenced,  but  this  long-tor- 
tured girl  was  given  over  to  the  mob  straight  from 
the  curse  of  the  Church. 

The  hideous  hypocrisy  of  it  all  is  seen  in  the 
sentence  driving  her  out  of  the  Church,  and  there- 
fore, according  to  her  life-time  belief,  into  inter- 
minable hell.  But  her  faith  surpassed  it  all.  That 
faith  in  this  fiery  trial  is  the  most  wonderful 
known  in  all  human  history. 

The  Lord  of  Beauvais  pronounced  the  sentence. 

"We  declare  that  thou,  Jeanne,  art  a  corrupt 
member,  and  in  order  that  thou  mayst  not  infect 
the  other  members,  we  are  resolved  to  sever  thee 
from  the  unity  of  the  Church,  to  tear  thee  from 
its  body,  and  to  deliver  thee  to  the  secular  power. 
And  we  reject  thee,  we  tear  thee  out,  we  abandon 
thee,  beseeching  this  same  secular  power,  that, 
touching  death  and  the  mutilation  of  limbs,  it  may 
be  pleased  to  moderate  its  sentence." 

But  the  Secular  Arm  made  no  sentence.  She 
passed  from  the  wolves  of  theological  reason  to 
the  wolves  of  military  might,  and  the  deluded  peo- 
ple, born  with  no  such  interests,  looked  upon  the 
spectacle  as  a  Holy  Show,  because  they  believed 
themselves  so  incompetent  before  this  superior  in- 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       295 

telligence,  and  had  none  of  the  faith  of  the  girl 
they  were  thus  hounding  to  death.  Verily,  wis- 
dom then  had  its  home  only  in  the  minds  of  babes. 
This  child  was  dying  the  death  of  faith  in  whose 
redeeming  power  was  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

She  asked  for  a  cross  but  all  seemed  too  dazed 
to  understand.  Then  an  English  soldier  made  one 
from  a  broken  stick  and  gave  it  to  her.  She 
thanked  him,  kissed  it  and  placed  it  in  her  bosom. 
Meanwhile,  the  clerk  of  Saint  Savior's  had  run  to 
the  church  and  he  brought  her  one  with  the  figure 
of  Christ  upon  it.  She  took  it  and  held  it  tightly 
in  her  arms,  now  weeping  and  praying  softly  to 
herself. 

The  ecclesiastics  did  not  intend  to  be  blood- 
guilty  ;  that  is,  not  to  do  more  than  convict  her  of 
being  a  heretic.  They  did  not  condemn  her  to  the 
stake,  by  definite  assertion,  but  left  that  to  be  done 
officially  by  the  secular  magistrates,  whose  busi- 
ness it  was  to  carry  out  the  decisions  of  the 
Church  in  its  cases  of  relapsed  heretics. 

As  the  inquisitor  dramatically  declaimed  his 
tragic  words,  casting  her  out  of  all  hope  forever 
in  earth  or  heaven,  two  officers  began  to  ascend 
the  steps  to  take  charge  of  her  in  the  name  of  the 
executive  government.  The  rabble  began  to  yell, 
'  *  To  the  stake !  Away  with  her  to  the  fire  I" 

Jeanne  bowed  to  the  priests  and  took  hold  of 
the  arms  of  the  two  monks  attending  her.  One 
of  them  says  that  she  paused  a  moment,  looking 
out  over  the  scene,  and  then  said*  "Ah,  Rouen  J 


296 JOAN  OF  ARC 

Rouen!    Wilt  thou  be  my  last  dwelling  place  on 
earth." 


9.  Loyal  Faith  as  the  Social  Meaning  of  Humanity 

In  her  last  passion  of  prayer,  her  faith  had 
passed  through  hope  into  love.  She  forgave  her 
enemies  and  asked  their  prayers  for  her  soul. 
She  knew  that  it  was  not  the  truth  within  them 
that  had  wrought  this  hideous  infamy  upon  her, 
but  the  lie  they  had  believed  and  loved  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  all  that  could  inspire  the  mercy  of  man. 

No  higher  devotion  of  disinterested  love  can  be 
exampled  anywhere  among  men.  She  asked  noth- 
ing but  that  her  soul  should  continue  in  the  care 
of  God.  That  is  why  the  memory  of  her  can  not 
fail  of  its  high  meaning  so  long  as  there  is  mem- 
ory and  mind. 

Vindictiveness  had  triumphed,  vengeance  had 
vindicated  its  theory  that  might  is  right.  They 
had  tortured  her  soul,  falsified  her  truth,  and  de- 
stroyed her  from  all  form  and  figure  among  the 
living.  She  was  cast  into  the  bottomless  pit  of 
anathema  and  oblivion,  but  alas  for  them,  vin- 
dications can  not  reach  the  soul,  vengeance  can 
not  touch  the  spirit,  torture  has  no  power  over 
faith,  and  the  destroyers  are  destroyed  in  their 
own  fatal  curse  of  treason  and  the  untrue. 

The  ages  have  caught  the  music  of  her  voices, 
the  nations  are  seeing  the  first  rose-dawn  of  her 
light  for  a  better  day,  the  human  mind  is  feeling 


FINAL  PRICE  OF  FAITH       297 

the  infinite  power  of  her  faith,  and  the  first  ex- 
ultant notes  of  a  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  are 
ringing  for  the  sons  and  daughters  of  God.  The 
faith-keeping  world  will  sometime  become  the 
home  of  humanity  and  there  shall  be  no  more  of 
the  will-made  earth. 

Her  life  is  a  withering  rebuke  now  as  it  was 
then  to  the  frivolous  and  idle  encumbering  the 
earth  with  their  useless  lives.  Well  could  it  be 
said  of  her,  l '  She  opened  her  hands  to  the  needy 
and  stretched  forth  her  hands  to  the  poor."  Such' 
was  this  gentle  girl  who  was  strong  beyond  the 
strength  of  the  mightiest  men !  Such  was  the  un- 
surpassed chivalry  of  this  noblest  knight  of  Chris- 
tendom, the  girl  who  cried  like  a  beaten  child  at 
the  thought  of  death  in  the  flames,  and  yet  in  that 
dreadful  hour  was  so  thoughtful  as  to  tell  her 
spiritual  counselors  to  leave  her  lest  they  be  hurt 
in  the  oncoming  flames.  The  France  that  can  not 
rise  to  that  ideal  of  womanhood,  or  any  other 
group  that  can  not  develop  the  faith  of  freedom, 
will  suffer  with  the  wretches  who  were  too  blind 
to  see  her  celestial  soul,  and,  unless  we  learn  to 
know  the  meaning  she  revealed  anew  along  the 
way  to  the  cross,  humanity  lives  on  in  a  faithless, 
hopeless,  hate-breeding  will-made  world. 


CHAPTER  XVI 

THE  TRAGEDY  OF  FAITH  AND  THE  VIC- 
TORY OF  WILL 

1.  The  Spotless  Woman  m  a  World  of  Shame 

THE  English  Magistry  had  no  opportunity  to 
pass  sentence  upon  her  in  conformity  with  the  de- 
cree of  the  Church.  She  was  subjected  to  no  proc- 
ess of  the  law.  It  was  a  mob  murder.  As  the  two 
monks,  with  their  charge  between  them,  came 
down  among  the  rabble  of  soldiers  and  citizens, 
composed  of  English,  Burgnndians  and  all  varie- 
ties of  renegade  French,  she  was  seized  as  one  of 
the  ancient  Christian  martyrs  among  the  beasts 
of  prey.  With  furious  cries  of  rage  they  dragged 
her  to  the  stake.  The  priests  fled  from  the  scene, 
horror-stricken  with  the  beastly  violence.  They 
cried  out  against  the  brutality  being  used  and  they 
were  driven  away  by  the  mounted  lancers.  She 
was  dragged  up  the  steps  on  to  the  pile  of  wood 
and  the  executioner  bound  her  to  the  stake.  The 
two  monks,  who  had  been  at  her  side,  with  up- 
raised crosses  forced  their  way  through  the  howl- 
ing pack  and  climbed  up  where  they  could  press 
the  great  emblem  against  her  knees.  The  soldiers 
closed  in  around  her,  rank  on  rank,  as  if  fearful 

298 


that  this  one,  whom  they  feared  more  than  all  the , 
armies  of  France,  might  yet  save  herself  in  the 
power  with  which  she  had  saved  others.    But  like 
her  Master  of  the  divine  light  and  faith,  this  was 
not  to  be  done. 

The  two  priests  who  were  at  her  side  said  that 
her  body  trembled  at  the  coming  agony,  but  her 
lips  prayed  only  for  forgiveness  to  her  enemies. 

And  now  the  worst  of  them  appeared  before  her.- 
Why  he  came,  whether  from  lust  of  the  sight  for] 
which  he  had  worked  for  more  than  a  year,  or 
whether  he  hoped  she  might  say  some  word  he 
wanted  to  hear  in  her  dying  anguish,  none  can 
know.    But  Pierre  Cauchon,  Bishop  of  Beauvais, 
came  down  to  the  edge  of  the  faggots  and  stood 
facing  her.    As  the  flames  sprang  up  around  her, 
she  looked  out  upon  the  mass  of  inhuman  faces 
and  saw  his. 

"Bishop,'*  she  said,  as  she  had  done  twice  be- 
fore, "I  die  by  you.  If  you  had  put  me  into  the 
hands  of  the  Church,  I  had  never  come  here!'* 

We  know  that  she  spoke  true  and  since  then  one 
of  the  most  worthy  names  by  the  side  of  Judas 
Iscariot  is  that  of  Pierre  Cauchon,  the  Bishop  of 
Beauvais. 

The  two  Dominican  monks  kneeling  by  her  side 
upon  the  pile  of  faggots  were  weeping  and  pray- 
ing so  that  they  did  not  see  the  fire  creeping  up 
around  them.  But  she  saw  it  and  she  called  to 
them  to  go  down  and  hold  the  crucifix  high  before 
her. 


300 JOAN  OF  ARC 

"Speak  loud  enough  for  me  to  hear  you,  and 
hold  high  the  cross  of  God  before  my  eyes  until  I 
die,"  was  her  last  request. 

Then  they  left  her  there  in  the  red  mists,  look- 
ing up  to  the  King  of  Heaven  for  help,  calling  low 
to  her  Savior  and  speaking  humbly  with  her  saints. 

Then  the  red  fangs  struck  into  her  flesh  and  she 
began  to  call  on  the  name  of  Jesus. 

"Jesus,  my  Savior,"  she  cried.  "Take  me 
away!" 

A  swift  tide  of  flame  took  her  into  its  keeping 
more  merciful  than  the  will  of  man,  and  faith  bore 
her  away  on  the  wings  of  hope  and  love. 

One  who  witnessed  this  scene,  and  there  are 
many  who  took  oath  on  what  they  saw,  tells  us 
that  the  eyes  of  all  grew  dim.  Many  of  them  say 
the  name  of  Jesus  appeared  in  great  red  letters  in 
the  furnace  of  flame.  Many  more  tell  of  a  white 
dove  that  arose  through  the  smoke  and  ascended 
to  heaven.  They  said  that  as  they  looked  at  her 
through  the  flames  that  her  face  became  as  that 
of  a  saint  and  they  from  that  time  believed  her 
to  be  a  daughter  of  God. 

Joaquin  Miller,  in  his  beautiful  tribute  to  wom- 
anhood, said  no  more  for  all  than  for  her : 

"0  spotless  woman  in  a  world  of  shame, 
With  splendid  and  silent  scorn, 
Go  back  to  God  as  white  as  you  came— 
The  kingliest  warrior  bornl" 


"THE  LAST  FULL  MEASURE  OF  DEVOTION" 


THE  VICTORY  OF  WILL       301 

2.  Self -made  Measures  of  Reason 

The  world  of  authority  had  now  accomplished 
.the  long,  laborious  work.  The  law  of  the  will  had 
satisfied  itself.  According  to  its  estimates  the 
body,  soul  and  history  of  the  Maid  of  Orleans 
were  now  annihilated. 

The  Cardinal  of  Winchester,  of  whom  it  was 
said  that  he  never  prayed  except  for  the  death  of 
some  enemy,  ordered  her  ashes  to  be  cast  into  the 
Seine.  Thus,  as  they  had  cast  her  soul  into  eter- 
nal hell,  had  destroyed  her  body  from  the  face  of 
the  earth,  and  had  made  her  character  blacker 
than  night,  they  would  annihilate  her  from  the 
values  of  the  world.  But  the  life  of  faith  was 
made  more  and  more  alive  by  every  act  in  their 
infamous  work.  The  meaning  of  her  idea  for  man- 
kind was  raised  above  all  battles,  above  all  kings, 
above  France  and  given  as  a  divine  banner  of  im- 
mortal honor  forever  to  the  growing  world. 

Manchon,  the  recorder  of  the  trial,  who  was 
near  her  until  her  last  breath,  testified  that,  "Un- 
til the  last  she  declared  that  her  voices  came  from 
God,  and  had  not  deceived  her." 

Martin,  the  Dominican  monk,  who  stayed  near- 
est to  her,  says  her  last  words  were,  "Behold,  my 
voices  have  not  deceived  me."  Then  with  a  loud 
voice  she  cried  out,  "My  Savior!"  as  if  He  had 
come.  Through  the  aisles  of  red  she  saw  the  gates 
of  Paradise.  Then  there  was  silence.  Her  soul 
had  returned  to  God. 


302 JOAN  OF  ARC 

Then  some  one  gave  the  command,  "Draw  back 
the  fire,  and  show  her  to  the  people  dead,  that 
none  may  ever  say  she  escaped." 

They  did  so  and  all  stared  speechless.  Then 
there  were  shrieks  and  cries  through  the  multi- 
tude. 

" Unjustly  condemned,"  were  the  words  that 
rolled  back  and  forth  with  ever  increasing  volume 
through  the  great  crowd.  "Her  soul  is  with  God. 
We  have  burnt  a  saint."  Evil  had  overdone  its 
work.  The  enemies  of  France  and  the  moral  law 
had  forever  horrified  the  world. 

The  executioner  came  running  with  the  word 
that  her  heart  would  not  burn,  that  it  remained  full 
of  blood !  That  great  heart  containing  the  soul  of 
France,  of  faith  and  of  humanity !  He  fell  at  the 
feet  of  the  two  monks,  asking  if  pardon  from  God 
was  possible.  Then  came  an  English  soldier  who 
had  hated  her  so  viciously  that  he  must  throw  a 
burning  faggot  at  her  feet  to  be  satisfied.  This  he 
had  done  as  she  uttered  her  last  words.  The 
sound  of  her  dying  voice  went  through  his  brain 
like  a  sword  and  he  fell  to  the  ground  senseless. 
He  feared  he  could  never  be  forgiven,  and  so  went 
out  into  the  night  of  time  insane  for  what  he  had 
done  to  this  creature  of  God. 

3.  Some  Records  of  Unblessed  Fate 

Manchon  used  all  his  clerk's  pay  during  the 
next  month  to  get  peace  for  his  soul. 


THE  VICTORY  OF  WILL       303 

Canon  Alepee,  one  of  the  assessors  of  the  inqui- 
sition, freely  said  to  his  friends,  * '  God  grant  that 
my  soul  may  be  where  the  soul  of  that  woman  is." 

Jean  Tressort,  secretary  to  the  King  of  Eng- 
land, said  openly  before  the  officials,  as  they  left 
the  scene  of  martyrdom,  "We  are  lost!  We  have 
burned  a  saint ! ' ' 

Pierre  Cauchon  never  received  the  reward  he 
sought  either  from  King  or  Pope.  He  became 
hated  and  shunned  of  all  men.  Pope  Calixtus  VII 
excommunicated  him,  though  this  infamous  perse- 
cutor of  La  Pucelle  was  dead.  The  Pope  ordered 
his  bones  to  be  burned  and  the  ashes  thrown  into 
the  river  Seine.  Legend,  if  not  history,  consigns 
every  one  who  did  not  satisfy  remorse  with  re- 
pentance to  a  degraded  death. 

Of  all  the  countless  horrors  that  beastly  minds 
have  inflicted  upon  the  race  of  men,  this  alone, 
considering  all  it  involved,  most  deserves  to  rank 
next  to  the  Cross  of  Calvary  as  the  most  abomina- 
ble malevolence  in  human  history. 

In  the  time  of  Louis  XI,  son  of  Charles  VII, 
only  two  of  the  Commissioners  who  had  been  in 
the  council  of  judges  that  condemned  her,  re- 
mained alive.  These  two  were  tried,  condemned, 
excommunicated  and  executed  for  their  infamous 
unreason  and  misuse  of  the  Church  against  Joan 
of  Arc.  Verily  the  blood  of  the  martyr  had  sancti- 
f  ed  the  cause  for  which  she  died  and  in  her  death 
was  greater  victory  for  her  and  France 


JOAN  OF  ARC 


than  in  all  the  battles  that  could  have  been  fought 
in  her  age. 

For  a  time  Cauchon  doubtless  thought  himself 
a  great  man  for  what  he  had  done. 

Henry  VI,  that  is,  the  boy  King's  Council,  in  a 
few  days  sent  Cauchon  a  letter,  that  seems  to  us 
now  so  blasphemous  and  sacrilegious  as  to  be  in- 
credible. The  last  paragraph  is  enough,  "May 
the  Great  Shepherd,  when  He  shall  appear,  deign 
to  reward  your  shepherdlike  care  with  an  immor- 
tal crown  of  glory." 

1  It  was  only  a  few  years  later  when  the  remains 
of  this  "shepherd-like"  man  were  taken  from  the 
tomb  and  burned  and  his  soul  consigned  to  perdi- 
tion by  the  Church  for  this  very  work.  So  much 
do  great  minds  differ.  It  is  thus  that  wrong  has 
time  but  right  is  crowned  with  eternity. 

4.  An  Estimate  and  a  Contrast 

De  Quincey  said,  * '  Never,  from  the  foundations 
of  the  earth,  was  there  such  a  trial,  if  it  were  laid 
open  in  all  its  beauty  of  defense,  and  in  all  the 
hellishness  of  attack.  0  Child  of  France,  Shep- 
herdess, peasant  girl,  trodden  under  foot  by  all 
around  thee,  how  I  honor  thy  flashing  intellect, 
quick  as  God's  lightning  and  as  true  to  its  mark, 
that  ran  before  France  and  laggard  Europe  by 
many  a  century." 

De  Quincey,  writing  of  Cauchon,  Bishop  of 
Beauvais,  thus  compares  his  downy-death  bed  with 


THE  VICTORY  OF  WILL       305 

that  of  the  stake  to  which  he  had  chained  Joan. 

"When  the  mortal  mists  were  gathering  fast 
upon  you  two,  bishop  and  shepherd  girl — when  the 
pavilions  of  life  were  closing  up  their  shadow  cur- 
tains about  you — let  us  try,  through  the  gigantic 
glooms,  to  decipher  the  flying  features  of  your 
separate  visions. 

' '  The  shepherd  girl,  that  had  delivered  France, 
— she,  from  her  dungeon,  she,  from  her  duel  with 
the  fire,  as  she  entered  her  last  dream,  saw  Dom- 
remy,  saw  the  fountain  at  Domremy,  saw  the 
pomp  of  forests  in  which  her  childhood  had  wan- 
dered. That  Easter  festival,  which  men  had  de- 
nied to  her  languishing  heart — that  resurrection 
of  spring-time,  which  the  darkness  of  dungeons 
had  intercepted  from  her,  hungering  after  the  glo- 
rious liberty  of  the  woods — these  were  by  God 
given  back  into  her  hands,  as  jewels  that  had  been 
stolen  from  her  by  robbers. 

"Bishop  of  Beauvais!  .  .  .  By  the  fountain  of 
Domremy  you  saw  a  woman  seated,  that  hid  her 
face.  But,  as  you  draw  near,  the  woman  raises 
her  veil  from  over  her  wasted  features.  Would 
Domremy  know  them  again  for  the  features  of 
her  child!  Ah,  but  Bishop,  you  know  them,  you 
know  them  well!  Oh,  Mercy!  What  a  groan  that 
was,  which  the  servants  waiting  outside  the 
bishop's  dream  at  his  bedside,  heard  from  his  la- 
boring heart,  as  at  this  moment  he  turns  away 
from  the  fountain  and  the  woman,  to  seek  rest  in 
the  forest  afar  off.  ...  In  the  forests,  to  which 


306  JOAN  OF  ARC 

he  prays  for  pity,  will  he  find  respite!  What  a 
tumult,  what  a  gathering  of  feet  is  there!  In 
glades  where  the  wild  deer  should  run,  armies 
and  nations  are  assembling.  .  .  .  There  is  the 
Bishop  of  Beauvais,  clinging  to  the  shelter  of  the 
thickets. 

"What  building  is  that  which  hands  so  rapid 
are  raising?  Is  it  a  martyr's  scaffold !  Will  they 
burn  the  Child  of  Domremy  a  second  time !  No ;  it 
is  a  tribunal  that  rises  to  the  clouds,  and  the  na- 
tions stand  around  it  waiting  for  a  trial.  Shall  my 
Lord  of  Beauvais  sit  again  upon  the  judgment 
seat,  and  again  number  the  hours  for  the  inno- 
cent? Ah!  no:  he  is  the  prisoner  at  the  bar.  .  .  . 
My  Lord,  have  you  no  counsel?  'Counsel  I  have 
none:  in  heaven  above,  nor  on  earth  beneath.'  Is 
it  indeed  come  to  this!  Alas!  the  time  is  short, 
the  tumult  is  wondrous,  the  crowd  stretches  away 
to  infinity,  but  yet  I  will  search  in  it  for  somebody 
to  plead  your  cause :  I  know  of  somebody  who  will 
be  your  counsel.  Ah!  Who  is  this  that  cometh 
from  Domremy?  Who  is  this  that  cometh  in 
bloody  coronation  robes  from  Rheims!  Who  is 
she  who  cometh  with  blackened  flesh,  from  walk- 
ing the  furnace  of  Rouen!  This  is  she,  the  shep- 
herd girl,  counselor  that  had  none  for  herself, 
whom  I  choose,  Bishop,  for  yours.  It  is  she  that 
will  take  my  Lord's  explanations.  She  it  is, 
Bishop,  who  would  plead  for  you:  yes,  Bishop, 
she, — when  heaven  and  earth  are  silent!" 


THE  VICTORY  OF  WILL       307 

5.  As  Heresy  Was  Defined 

The  most  unimpeachable  testimony  ever  given 
to  any  one  was  given  by  those  who  knew  La  Pu- 
celle  not  only  from  childhood  but  on  through  to 
her  associates  in  battles  and  armies,  among  the 
priests  and  at  the  court  of  the  King,  but  proof 
of  her  white  soul  and  noble  character  was  not 
wanted  by  the  University  of  Paris.  Those  learned 
doctors  of  the  law  wanted  to  justify  the  judgment 
they  had  consolidated  into  the  will  of  King  and 
Church.  It  is  even  so  to  this  day  in  every  interest 
of  life,  the  partisan  eliminates  or  refuses  all  evi- 
dence but  that  which  strengthens  his  judgment  as 
his  will.  That  is  supreme.  It  is  his  God. 

When  King  Charles  VII,  in  1450,  ordered  an  in- 
vestigation by  impartial  attorneys  having  no  in- 
terest to  please  any  one,  there  was  a  unanimous 
decision  that  her  trial  was  grossly  illegal  and  out- 
rageously unchristian. 

As  to  Joan's  submission  to  the  Church,  there 
probably  never  was  a  more  devoted  daughter  of 
the  Church  in  so  far  as  it  represented  God  and 
not  the  hate  of  the  University  of  Paris.  The  tes- 
timony is  not  only  overwhelming  on  that  question, 
but  her  entire  life  is  living  proof  of  her  religious 
devotion  to  the  religious  system  into  which  she 
was  born.  She  was  not  born  into  the  world  to 
destroy  religious  system  but  to  be  the  greatest 
symbol  of  all  time  for  the  unselfish  power  of  faith 
triumphant  over  wrong. 


308 JOAN  OF  ARC 

.  The  Council  of  Trent  in  its  Catechism  defines  a 
heretic  as  "one  who,  despising  the  authority  of 
the  church,  which  he  has  sufficient  reason  to  be- 
lieve is  the  true  Church  of  Christ,  contrary  to  its 
decision  and  obstinately  adheres  to  false  and  im- 
pious opinions." 

La  Pucelle  was  none  of  that. 

The  rehabilitation  decree  of  July  7,  1456,  says, 
in  condemning  the  false  judgment  against  her, 
"And  because  of  the  question  of  revelations  it  is 
most  difficult  to  furnish  a  certain  judgment,  Bless- 
ed Paul  having  on  the  subject  of  his  own  revela- 
tions said  that  he  knew  not  if  they  came  to  him 
in  body  or  in  spirit,  and  having  on  this  point  re- 
ferred himself  to  God." 

She  showed  to  the  world  forever,  that,  however 
much  wrong  may  possess  the  world,  nevertheless, 
at  the  fountain  of  a  child's  heart  there  is  always 
the  pure  water  of  life,  ready  for  the  healing  of 
the  nations,  if  it  can  only  be  kept  from  the  im- 
purities of  the  world  by  faith  kept  within,  and 
protected  from  without.  The  child  is  faith  and 
will.  Inspiration  illuminates  the  way  of  faith,  and 
experience  drives  it  along  the  will-way  of  the 
world. 

6.  The  Stake  and  the  Cross 

All  France,  and  at  last  all  the  world,  now  be- 
gins to  know  the  meaning  of  the  wonderful  woman 
who  was  born  at  Domremy  and  died  at  Rouen. 
Hers  was  the  faith  whose  wealth  and  power  have 


THE  VICTORY  OF  WILL        309 

been  the  glory  of  the  ages,  most  brilliant  perhaps 
in  Moses,  Socrates,  Christ  and  Paul,  but  never  so 
known  in  the  life  of  woman. 

The  shrinking  Domremy  girl  who  blushed  at  a 
word  and  was  timid  before  strangers,  became 
transformed  into  the  master  of  armies  unafraid 
of  anything  under  God.  And,  it  was  no  miracle 
except  what  the  miracle  of  faith  can  do  for  every 
one. 

The  hideous  cruelty  practiced  upon  this  girl  by 
the  learned  doctors  of  the  law  in  the  name  of  God 
gives  us  to  know  what  the  mind  of  man  can  be  in 
the  form  of  belief  made  into  will.  It  may  be  seen 
that  their  individual  will  reached  as  great  depths 
of  endurance  in  ghastly  infamy  as  her  social  faith 
reached  celestial  heights  in  human  loyalty. 

Upon  her  head  they  placed  a  bishop's  miter  in 
paper  upon  which  was  printed  the  words,  "Here- 
tic, relapsed,  Apostate,  Idolatress." 

Surely  those  Satanic  souls  saw  through  the 
flames  the  cross  upon  which  another  martyr  died 
with  the  crown  of  thorns,  and  the  inscription  far 
less  in  fearful  mockery,  "King  of  the  Jews.'* 

Individual-Self  embodied  in  the  will  of  the  San- 
hedrim and  Social-Self  formed  in  the  faith  of 
Jesus  came  at  last  into  deadly  conflict,  the  tem- 
poral with  the  immortal.  They  killed  Him  but  His 
faith  won  the  victory  over  death.  So  it  was  with 
the  Maid  of  Orleans.  The  human  self  was  the 
remorseless  will  of  the  University  of  Paris  to 
break  this  frail  form  of  a  girl  coming  against  their 


310 JOAN  OF  ARC 

interest  from  the  fields  of  Domremy.  But  will 
against  faith  is  like  an  hour  in  conflict  with  eter- 
nity. Its  dog's  day  is  that  of  the  wolf,  the  vul- 
ture and  snake,  but  the  shining  one  of  faith  has 
the  stars  of  glory  in  her  crown. 

Eome,  with  its  world  power,  was  the  will  that 
was  master  over  the  two  greatest  martyrdoms  in 
the  world.  It  was  the  same  deification  of  will  that 
made  the  Prussian  state.  Those  who  exalt  the 
will  as  the  greatest  thing  in  man  can  see  what 
a  monster  they  make  of  persons  and  nations. 

The  will  can  be  strengthened  only  to  increase 
itself  for  aggression,  violence  and  conquest,  but 
faith,  the  only  unconquerable  and  almighty  power 
in  the  soul  of  man,  is  increased  only  for  the  hope 
and  love  of  humanity,  whose  infinite  meaning  is 
expressed  in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  and  the  name 
of  God. 

7.  Those  Who  Think  They  Defeat  the  Moral  Law 

Order  is  slow  to  come  into  its  own  because  it 
has  so  much  time  to  accumulate  its  system,  but 
no  one  ever  lived  and  no  one  can  ever  live  able 
to  beat  the  system. 

Eapidly  did  the  feeling  of  the  common  people 
permeate  the  masses  far  and  near  in  the  fleeting 
days  following  the  death  of  the  greatest  among 
women.  The  judges  were  soon  pointed  out  in  the 
streets  and  reviled  as  the  murderers  of  a  saint. 

In  the  following  month  of  June,  the  English 


THE  VICTORY  OF  WILL       311 

Government,  endeavoring  to  justify  itself,  ad- 
dressed a  letter  of  explanation  to  the  Pope,  the 
Emperor  and  all  the  kings  and  princes  of  Chris- 
tendom, another  was  sent  as  a  manifesto  to  all  the 
prelates,  nobles  and  cities  of  France  and  a  third 
was  a  guarantee  of  sanction  to  all  those  engaged 
in  the  trial.  The  University  of  Paris  also  tried 
to  justify  its  work  by  writing  an  official  explana- 
tion to  the  Pope,  the  Emperor  and  to  the  college 
of  Cardinals.  To  make  sure  that  her  history  was 
written  down  never  to  be  changed,  sermons  were 
preached  in  all  the  churches  of  England,  Bur- 
gundy and  renegade  France,  describing  the  mar- 
tyred girl  as  a  demoniac  from  her  birth  who  had 
been  escorted  from  her  home  by  the  "  Enemy  of 
Hell,"  and  that  since  that  time  she  had  been  ''full 
of  wrath  and  bloodthirstiness,  a  slayer  of  Chris- 
tian folk." 

But  this  proves  the  untruth,  or  at  least  the  ex- 
ception to  the  truth,  spoken  by  Napoleon,  that, 
"History  is  a  lie  well  told  and  adhered  to." 

In  July  the  French  and  Burgundians  were 
beaten  in  their  attack  to  recover  Beauvais.  Here 
the  shepherd  boy  of  Gevandun,  who  had  been  put 
up  by  the  court  favorites  to  take  La  Pucelle's 
place,  was  captured.  He  was  in  Cauchon's  juris- 
diction, but  the  Bishop  of  Beauvais  no  longer  felt 
his  former  zeal  for  heresy  trials.  He  was  soon 
glad  to  turn  the  weak  puppet  over  to  the  English. 
It  was  at  the  time  of  King  Henry's  entry  into 
Paris,  and  the  boy  in  derision  led  the  procession, 


312 JOAN  OF  ARC  

tied  upon  a  horse.    Soon  after,  without  trial,  he 
was  put  into  a  sack  and  thrown  into  the  Seine. 

Henry  VI  was  crowned  King  of  France  at  Notre 
Dame  on  December  16,  1431.  But  the  triumph 
of  English  dominion  over  France  was  rapidly 
drawing  to  an  end. 

It  is  recorded  that,  as  the  boy  King  rode  by  the 
palace  of  Saint  Pol,  his  grandmother,  the  hated 
Isabeau  of  Bavaria,  stood  at  the  window.  Being 
told  who  it  was,  he  saluted  her  and  she  turned 
away  weeping.  Gone  was  the  glory  in  which  she 
had  come  to  power  and  all  people  despised  her  for 
her  betrayal  of  France  at  Troyes.  She  died  Sep- 
tember 29,  1435,  on  hearing  of  the  Treaty  of  Ar- 
ras, between  the  French  King  and  the  Burgundi- 
ans,  from  which  came  true  the  dream  of  the  Won- 
derful Woman  that  Frenchmen  should  soon  be  at 
peace,  and  together  drive  all  foreign  dominion 
from  the  soil  of  France. 

The  Franco-Burgundian  army  peacefully  en- 
tered Paris  in  April,  1436,  and  so  came  to  pass 
one  of  the  prophecies  from  the  Voices  that "  With- 
in seven  years  the  English  shall  lose  a  greater 
pledge  than  before  Orleans." 

On  February  17,  1456,  one  hundred  and  one  ar- 
ticles enumerating  errors  and  illegalities  in  the 
trial  of  La  Pucelle  were  read  in  the  name  of  the 
noble  family  Du  Lis,  formerly  known  as  D'Arc, 
calling  for  a  reversal  of  the  trial  at  Rouen  of  the 
Maid.  All  yet  living  who  had  known  and  loved 
her  now  had  a  chance  to  throw  her  white  light 


THE  VICTORY  OF  WILL        313 

against  the  black  day  on  which  her  enemies  had 
defamed  her.  Rouen,  the  scene  of  her  martyrdom, 
became  the  place  of  her  unanimous  and  unchange- 
able vindication  as  a  daughter  of  God. 

All  of  Joan  is  gone,  like  her  body,  into  the  ashes 
of  the  past.  No  relic  exists.  Gone  is  every  ma- 
terial thing.  But  the  fair  face  and  the  sweet  voice 
embody  a  soul  of  endless  faith,  suffering  every- 
thing possible  to  suffer  in  the  name  of  womanhood 
and  the  right  life  of  mankind. 

The  last  of  the  Du  Lis  family,  the  rank  of  no- 
bility having  been  restricted  to  the  male  members, 
died  June  29,  1760.  He  was  Columbe  Du  Lis, 
Canon  of  Champeaux  and  prior  of  Coutras.  No 
known  descendants  of  the  D'Arc  family  now  live. 

8.  The  Great  News  and  the  Beginning  of  Res- 
toration 

The  University  of  Paris  and  all  the  mad  minds 
grouped  about  it  had  finished  what  they  had  hoped 
would  demonstrate  their  mastery  over  the  way  of 
life,  their  supremacy  in  affairs  of  the  Church,  and 
their  devotion  to  the  political  fortunes  of  Eng- 
land in  its  claims  to  the  mastery  of  France. 

But  it  could  not  be  concealed  that  Joan  of  Arc 
had  been  thrust  out  of  the  Church  by  the  most 
iniquitous  farce  of  religious  justice  ever  known 
and  that  she  had  been  burned  at  the  stake  by  force 
of  English  soldiers  without  any  process  of  Eng- 
lish law,  not  to  speak  of  any  due  process  of  law. 


314 JOAN  OF  ARC 

The  military,  political  and  ecclesiastical  masters 
had  made  a  great  show  of  learned  Church  dogmas 
through  the  University  of  Paris,  but  the  mass  of 
human  beings,  however  overawed  by  authority 
and  deceived  through  ignorance,  yet  knew  that  an 
immortal  human  faith  had  been  crucified,  the 
spirit  of  France  had  been  atrociously  defamed, 
and  the  eternal  meaning  of  woman  had  been  un- 
speakably outraged  before  all  the  humanity  of 
the  world. 

Even  the  dead  stones  of  human  hearts  in  hope- 
less France  once  more  beat  red  blood.  La  Pucelle 
shall  not  have  died  in  vain.  The  people  would 
not  have  such  masters  to  rule  and  reign  over  them. 
King  Charles  perceived  enough  of  the  feeling  of 
the  times  to  take  on  some  courage,  but  there  is  lit- 
tle evidence  to  let  us  believe  that  his  goodness 
had  any  gratitude,  his  peace  any  human  value,  or 
his  pious  faith  any  interest  worthy  of  man  or  God. 

One  thing  he  did  do,  when  all  France  had  come 
under  his  control,  on  February  15,  1449,  eighteen 
years  after  her  death,  he  ordered  Guillaume 
Bouille,  a  doctor  of  theology,  to  collect  all  the 
documents  pertaining  to  her  capture,  imprison- 
ment, trial  and  death.  This  man  proceeded,  under 
authority  from  the  King,  with  a  very  thorough 
search  for  all  the  authentic  evidence  obtainable, 
and  caused  the  clerks  and  notaries  who  had  made 
out  these  documents  to  make  oath  as  to  their  genu- 
ineness. 

In  1452,  Cardinal  d'Estouteville,  archbishop  of 


THE  VICTOEY  OF  WILL       315 

Rouen,  was  commissioned  as  the  Pope's  legatee 
to  examine  these  documents,  under  legal  advice 
from  the  counselors  of  the  King.  Seventeen  wit- 
nesses were  brought  in  for  personal  examination. 
The  King,  under  pressure  from  the  faithful 
French  priesthood  and  the  steady  insistence  of 
the  people,  urgently  supported  by  the  family  of 
the  martyred  girl,  now  decided  upon  an  appeal  to 
the  Pope. 

9.  Judgment  from  the  Highest  Court 

Jeanne's  father  and  eldest  brother  were  dead, 
but  the  untiring  mother  was  unceasing  in  her  en- 
deavors to  obtain  justice  in  the  Church  for  her 
child.  The  King  decided  to  have  her  carry  the 
appeal  to  the  Pope. 

In  1455  Pope  Calixtus  HI  listened  to  the  appeal 
of  the  mother,  examined  the  documents,  and  de- 
cided that  an  injustice  had  been  done  which  the 
Church  could  not  allow  to  remain  under  its  sanc- 
tion. All  the  powers  responsible  for  the  death  of 
the  Maid  had  used  every  effort  to  save  their  case, 
but  in  June,  1455,  the  official  examination  of  the 
trial  was  ordered. 

It  was  decreed  that  the  relatives  of  the  Maid 
should  be  heard  first  before  the  Papal  council,  and 
now,  twenty-four  years  after  the  death  of  La  Pu- 
celle,  her  request  to  have  her  case  before  the  coun- 
cil of  the  Pope  was  being  fulfilled. 

Isabella  Eomee,  mother  of  La  Pucelle,  now  six- 


316 JOAN  OF  ARC 

ty-seven  years  of  age,  with  her  two  surviving  sons, 
presented  herself  before  the  court  in  the  Archi- 
episcopal  Palace  of  Paris.  With  indescribable 
emotion  thrilling  the  court  and  all  the  people,  this 
wonderful  mother  told  everything  she  could  re- 
member of  her  child  from  her  birth  until  the  last 
time  they  had  seen  her. 

In  presenting  the  appeal  it  was  then  necessary 
for  the  mother  to  recount  how  they  had  wronged 
her  daughter.  She  had  to  recount  the  charges  and 
tell  why  they  were  not  so. 

The  recording  clerks  wrote  of  the  scene  as  one 
of  indescribable  sorrow.  In  an  excess  of  anguish 
the  aged  mother  could  not  proceed  and  her  coun- 
selor was  directed  to  finish  the  reading. 

The  opposition  was  powerful  and  the  legal  dif- 
ficulties to  be  overcome  seemed  insurmountable, 

|  but  the  demands  of  the  mother  would  not  be  ap- 
peased, and  the  appeal  of  the  Maid  from  her  per- 
secutors to  the  Pope  at  last  came  true.  Her  life 
was  to  be  reviewed  in  detail  before  the  highest  tri- 
bunal of  the  Church.  It  was  not  now  a  fragment 
of  interest,  schismatic  as  an  intrigue  of  partisan 

\  wills,  that  was  to  look  into  the  justice  and  truth 
of  La  Pucelle.  The  rights  of  her  life  were  being 
reviewed  by  the  world-wide  human  interest  seek- 

,  ing  to  vindicate  itself  from  being  the  destroyer  of 

i  faith  through  the  wills  of  men. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS  OF  A  LIFE 

1.  A  Thing  Is  Never  Settled  Until  It  Is  Settled 

Right 

ORDINANCES  were  at  last  issued  commanding  all 
who  had  taken  part  in  the  trial  of  Joan  of  Arc,  or 
their  heirs  and  representatives,  to  appear  at 
Rouen  on  December  12,  at  which  time  testimonies 
and  documentary  evidence  were  completed  of 
every  detail  of  the  trial  from  many  witnesses,  in- 
cluding the  clerks,  notaries,  assessors  and  officers 
of  the  trial.  Pierre  Cauchon  and  the  other  princi- 
pals were  dead  but  their  responsible  representa- 
tives were  there  with  all  they  could  supply  in 
sworn  evidence. 

A  second  inquiry  was  held  at  Orleans,  where 
Duiiois  was  among  the  scores  of  witnesses  to  give 
sworn  testimony  taken  down  in  writing  concern- 
ing La  Pucelle  d 'Orleans. 

A  third  inquiry  at  Paris  continued  the  exhaus- 
tive research  by  having  among  the  sworn  wit- 
nesses Jean  Pasquerel,  who  had  been  her  almoner 
and  confessor,  Louis  de  Contes  who  had  been  her 
page,  and  the  Due  d'Alengon,  of  the  Royal  House- 
hold. 

317 


318 JOAN  OF  ARC 

At  the  fourth  and  last  inquiry  held  in  Rouen 
was  Jean  d'Aulon,  who  had  been  squire  to  Jeanne 
during  the  time  she  had  lived  so  royally  in  the 
grace  of  the  King's  court. 

One  hundred  and  forty-four  depositions  were 
taken  as  the  sworn  testimony  of  witnesses,  who 
were  admonished  as  they  hoped  in  God  or  ex- 
pected salvation,  to  tell  only  what  they  of  their 
own  experience  knew  to  be  true.  These  docu- 
ments still  exist  in  the  National  Library  in  Paris. 
With  stern  impartiality  the  Pope's  commission 
examined  every  document  and  every  charge,  in  the 
light  of  sworn  testimony,  by  the  aid  of  the  most 
learned  advisers  that  the  Pope  could  supply,  and 
every  judge  on  every  clause  in  every  charge  de- 
cided there  was  no  ground  for  the  imputation  of 
any  wrong  in  the  faith  or  life  of  Jehanne  La  Pu- 
celle.  They  unanimously  declared,  "the  whole 
process  is  a  fallacy,  deceit,  fraud,  iniquity  and  de- 
ception done  and  committed  ...  by  Pierre  Cau- 
chon,  late  Bishop  of  Beauvais,  and  by  the  inquisi- 
tor of  the  faith,  pretended  and  wrongfully  or- 
dained to  the  diocese  of  Beauvais,  and  by  Master 
Jehan  d'Estivet,  calling  himself  proctor  of  said 
diocese  .  .  .  and  to  the  fraud  and  falsifying  of 
the  process." 

After  a  long  recital  of  the  exhaustive  investiga- 
tion and  the  extensive  discovery  of  indisputable 
proofs,  the  weighty  document  decreeing  the  inno- 
cence of  La  Pucelle,  continues,  "Considering  the 
erroneous  judgment  pronounced  against  her,  and 


CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS    319 

the  unreasonable  mode  of  procedure,  in  every  re- 
spect captious,  fraudulent  and  detestable,  .  .  . 
the  questions  proposed  being  rather  for  her  dam- 
nation than  for  salvation,  ...  in  regard  to  this 
process,  we  decree  and  declare  in  judgment  that 
it  is  necessary  to  destroy,  to  tear  up,  and  to  cast 
it  into  the  flames." 

Further  along  in  the  extended  document,  they 
say, '  *  Considering  also  that  they  fraudulently  and 
deceitfully  drew  from  her  an  abjuration  and  re- 
nunciation, by  force  and  violence,  in  the  presence 
of  the  executioner,  threatening  to  cause  her  to  be 
publicly  and  cruelly  burnt,  by  which  menaces,  and 
the  operation  of  fear,  they  forced  from  her  a 
schedule  of  abjuration  which  Jehanne  in  no  way 
knew  or  comprehended,  ...  we  break,  destroy,] 
annul  and  evacuate  by  all  power,  force,  value  and 
virtue,  and  proclaim  and  declare  the  said  Jehanne 
...  to  have  in  no  wise  contracted  nor  acquired 
any  stain  or  slur  of  infamy  .  .  .  being  innocent, 
non-culpable,  and  exempt  from  crime  and  sin, 
which  was  falsely  attributed  to  said  La  Pucelle." 

After  still  further  setting  forth  the  reasons,  it 
was  solemnly  ordered  that  proclamation  at  a  cer- 
tain hour  should  be  made  in  the  market  place  of 
Eouen  before  all  the  people,  that  a  sermon  should 
be  preached  on  the  spot  in  the  cemetery  of  Saint 
Ouen  where  she  was  fraudulently  driven  from  the 
Church,  thus  reinstating  her  over  that  iniquitous 
proceeding;  that  the  next  morning  a  procession 
should  be  formed,  and  another  sermon  should  be 


320 JOAN  OF  ARC 

preached  by  a  venerable  doctor  in  theology  on  the 
spot  ' '  in  the  square  where  La  Pucelle  was  cruelly 
and  horribly  burnt  and  suffocated;  and  after  the 
solemn  proceeding,  there  shall  be  placed  and  erect- 
ed a  comely  crucifix,  in  perpetual  remembrance  of 
said  departed  Pucelle  ...  as  in  other  parts  of 
this  kingdom." 

First  the  mother  and  other  relatives,  with  four- 
teen of  the  more  notable  friends  of  Jeanne,  were 
brought  into  the  Council  Chamber  and  the  decree 
of  innocence  and  reinstatement  was  read  to  them 
together  with  the  unanimous  approval  of  all  the 
great  names  connected  with  the  papal  investiga- 
tion. It  was  said  that  all  the  people  were  in  tears 
and  that  the  mother  fell  faint  in  the  arms  of  her 
sons  from  the  joy  that  there  was  now  no  stain 
against  the  name  of  her  beloved  daughter.  Ver- 
ily, next  to  the  great  victory  of  the  flames  from 
which  the  innocent  soul  of  unconquerable  faith 
was  taken  home  to  her  Father's  house,  was  this 
victory  over  the  madness  of  man  for  the  honor  of 
truth,  mercy  and  justice  on  earth. 

2.  The  Immortality  of  Faith  That  Has  Fought  the 
Good  Fight  for  Life 

Charles  VII,  according  to  his  disposition,  ac- 
cepted this  vindication  as  being  enough,  and  did 
nothing  to  punish  those  guilty  of  the  unpardon- 
able crime,  but  it  is  recorded  that  his  son,  Louis 
XI,  caused  two  of  her  judges,  yet  living,  to  suffer 


CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS    321 

as  they  had  condemned  her  to  suffer.  He  had  the 
bodies  of  the  others  taken  up,  publicly  burned  and 
the  ashes  scattered  outside  the  holy  ground. 

Writers  of  that  time  say  that  Pierre  Cauchon 
died  of  apoplexy  in  a  barber's  chair,  "his  name 
loaded  with  universal  hatred  and  disgrace." 
Nicholas  Midi  died  of  leprosy.  De  Flavy,  who 
was  accused  of  closing  the  gates  against  La  Pu- 
celle,  so  that  she  was  captured,  was  strangled  to 
death  in  bed  by  his  wife.  Estivet,  the  proctor, 
was  found  dead  in  a  foul  pit  outside  the  city  gates 
and  it  was  believed  by  suicide.  Loiseleur,  the  re- 
morseful one,  dropped  dead  at  prayers  in  his 
church.  The  Duke  of  Bedford  died  suddenly,  if 
not  mysteriously,  in  the  Castle  at  Rouen,  where 
the  Maid  had  been  endungeoned.  Henry  VI,  King 
of  England,  for  whose  cause  she  was  sacrificed, 
was  twice  dethroned,  spent  most  of  his  life  a  pris- 
oner in  the  Tower  of  London  and  was  at  last  mur- 
dered there. 

But  it  may  no  longer  interest  ns  beyond  mere 
curiosity  concerning  these  historical  happenings. 
Science  and  art  and  every  loved  tribute  of  man 
have  combined  to  give  posterity  a  vision  in  her  of 
the  noblest  faith  and  character  known  in  the  rec- 
ords of  the  world.  Historical  critics  have  analyzed 
and  classified  every  detail  of  her  career  with  the 
estimates  made  of  her  in  the  voluminous  sworn 
testimonies  of  those  who  knew  her  best. 

Statues  and  paintings,  made  according  to  the 
descriptions  of  her,  exist  wherever  faith  and  worn- 


322  JOAN  OF  ARC 

anhood  are  most  reverenced.  History  and  legend, 
religion  and  morality,  romance  and  drama,  find  in 
her  the  supreme  elements  of  profound  personal 
interest  and  noble  humanity. 

Apart  from  all  that  is  claimed  as  supernatural, 
this  murdered  girl  symbolizes  more  than  any  his- 
tory or  philosophy  can  otherwise  show,  that,  even 
as  the  Son  of  man,  she  stood  for  a  loyalty  of  faith 
that  passeth  understanding. 

Two  years  before  the  death  of  Jeanne,  there 
lived  a  woman  poet  named  Christine  de  Pisan, 
sixty-seven  years  of  age,  who  wrote  a  poem  of  sev- 
eral hundred  stanzas,  and  that  poem  still  exists, 
in  which  La  Pucelle  is  compared  with  Deborah, 
Judith  and  Queen  Esther. 

Shakespeare  and  Schiller  wrote  plays  about  her, 
in  the  terms  of  their  knowledge  or  the  prejudice 
of  the  times,  Voltaire  used  the  worst  that  her  ene- 
mies had  ever  said  about  her  in  order  to  revile 
the  Church.  Romance,  poetry  and  legend  have 
grown  enormously  over  her  name.  And  thus  the 
wonderful  woman  of  the  wonderful  faith  still  lives 
to  strengthen  the  meaning  of  life  in  the  world. 

Notwithstanding  all  that  had  been  done,  the  lie 
that  had  been  forced  into  the  popular  history  of 
the  times,  remained  to  poison  the  minds  of  the 
people  for  three  or  four  centuries.  Shakespeare, 
writing  for  the  public,  accepted  the  popular  ver- 
sion of  her  as  a  witch  in  league  with  the  fiends  of 
hell.  But  by  the  year  1611,  as  in  Speed's  history, 
the  true  understanding  began  to  appear,  and  by 


CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS    328 

the  opening  of  the  nineteenth  century  all  writers 
everywhere  united  in  believing  her  to  be  one  of 
the  wonderful  women  of  the  world. 

Voltaire,  with  hatred  for  Church  and  all  relig- 
ious faith,  declared  that  one  set  of  ecclesiastics  at 
the  behest  of  the  King  of  England  declared  her 
guilty  and  outside  the  Church,  while  another  set 
at  the  behest  of  the  King  of  France  declared  her 
innocent  and  a  true  daughter  of  the  Church.  This 
is  utterly  untrue  because  the  set  who  condemned 
her  were  wholly  a  revengeful  political  group  un- 
der the  pressure  of  military  necessity,  and  the 
other  had  no  motive,  but  solely  the  question  of 
righteousness,  though  the  change  was  direct  re- 
flection on  the  King  of  France  and  a  very  sore, 
self-inflicted  rebuke  and  reversal  for  many  of  the 
highest  officials  of  the  Church. 

3.  Responsibility  and  Guilt 

The  University  of  Paris  was  French  and  Catho- 
lic but  it  no  more  represented  the  Church  than  it 
represented  France. 

When  Joan  of  Arc  with  swift  inspiration  one 
day  said,  "I  appeal  to  the  Pope,"  in  that  moment 
this  fragment  of  the  vine  had  no  more  right  to 
deliver  her  to  death  than  any  other  assemblage  of 
priests. 

There  was  an  age  in  history,  when,  if  a  man 
said,  "I  am  a  Roman  citizen  and  I  appeal  to 
Caesar,"  he  was  no  longer  to  be  condemned  by  any 


324 JOAN  OF  ARC 

fragmentary  court,  but  must  be  taken  to  Rome. 
It  was  no  less  so  when  this  child  of  God  appealed 
to  the  body  of  the  Church  Militant  in  the  name 
of  the  Church  Triumphant  from  which  she  had 
her  almighty  faith.  It  was  therefore  not  the  Cath- 
olic Church  that  excommunicated  Joan  of  Arc  but 
a  conspiracy  of  learned  political  brigands  who 
were  traitors  to  both  France  and  Catholicism. 

The  martyrdom  of  Christ  represents  the  work 
of  legalized  authority  illegitimately  used,  but  the 
great  sacrifice  of  Joan  of  Arc  unveils  to  the  light 
of  ages  all  that  is  vicious  in  the  government  of 
man.  The  partisan  will  is  an  individual  will  hav- 
ing no  relation  to  order  and  is  the  negation  of 
faith  in  the  moral  meaning  of  humanity. 

The  guilt  of  her  death  was  not  put  by  her  upon 
the  Church.  Though  all  the  eloquence  and  per- 
suasion of  mighty  men  tried  to  force  this  down 
upon  her,  she  never  for  a  moment  believed  it,  but 
with  her  dying  breath  repeated  her  accusation  to 
the  unspeakable  Bishop  Cauchon,  that  he  had 
brought  her  to  such  a  death.  And  it  was  this 
'Cauchon,  not  La  Pucelle,  who  was  the  branch  of 
the  vine  that  was  cast  into  the  fire  of  eternal  re- 
pudiation. Because  hers  was  the  faith  that  in- 
spires man  above  the  beast  and  gives  her  the  light 
of  the  divine,  she  belongs  not  to  Church  or  coun- 
try but  to  humanity  for  all  time. 

Joan's  patriotism  was  a  noble  quality  of  her 
character,  her  loyalty  to  the  Church  Triumphant 
;was  an  unsurpassable  crown  of  life,  but  the  faith 


CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS    325 

that  is  thus  the  making  of  every  worthwhile  mind 
or  soul  represents  the  supreme  greatness  of  her 
meaning  to  the  world.  About  this  vital  element  of 
her  life  there  is  no  room  or  reason  for  contro- 
versy. It  is  not  a  question  for  critical  historians. 
It  is  the  one  indisputable  vision  of  her  career. 
About  her  imperishable  womanhood  there  can  be 
only  reverent  silence  in  appreciation  of  the  su- 
preme and  yet  simplest  of  human  endowments. 

Dumas  has  called  her  "The  Christ  of  France. " 
This  is  true  for  the  spirit  of  moral  patriotism 
in  the  sense  of  her  faith  in  the  righteousness  of 
God.  Being  perfect  in  that,  as  far  as  it  is  possible 
to  know,  she  therefore  could  not  be  surpassed. 
But  no  unbeliever  can  ever  use  her  name  against 
religion,  as  she  lived  and  died  in  the  name  of 
Christ,  for  the  deliverance  of  her  people,  and  the 
freedom  of  the  soul  with  its  Maker. 

4.  The  Loyalty  of  Faith  in  Material  Work 

La  Pucelle  could  easily  have  had  worshipers. 
The  credulity  and  superstition  of  the  times  could 
have  brought  her  fortunes.  She  was  ennobled  and 
could  at  any  time  have  made  a  royal  marriage. 
She  was  beset  with  requests  to  use  the  powers  of 
divination  all  the  way  from  charming  a  disease 
away  from  children  to  blessing  little  gifts  for  no- 
ble ladies,  and  deciding  for  a  prince  whom  to  sup- 
port for  pope.  But  she  was  never  a  charlatan. 
She  could  not  be  seduced  from  the  clear  pure  faith 


326 JOAN  OF  ARC 

by  anything  in  the  power  or  wit  of  man  to  offer. 

Such  was  the  unimpeachable  quality  of  her 
presence  that  none  of  her  soldiers,  coarse  and 
hard  as  they  were,  ever  felt  anything  but  rever- 
ence for  her.  One  of  the  captains  who  had  cam- 
paigned with  her,  in  looking  back  through  twenty- 
five  years,  testified  that  all  she  did  seemed  to  him 
more  divine  than  human.  The  English  had  beaten 
the  French  so  continuously  for  so  many  years  that 
they  would  no  longer  try  to  fight  the  English. 
But,  after  Joan  came  among  them,  all  was 
changed. 

"Two  hundred  English,"  wrote  one  of  the  Bur- 
gundian  chroniclers  of  that  day,  "used  to  chase 
five  hundred  Frenchmen,  but,  after  her  coming, 
two  hundred  Frenchmen  have  no  trouble  in  chas- 
ing five  hundred  Englishmen.'* 

The  spirit  she  breathed  into  the  heart  of  France 
was  not  destroyed  at  her  death  and  it  became  a 
quality  which  brought  it  a  responsible  place 
among  nations.  Protestant  can  rejoice  with  Cath- 
olic in  the  sacred  fealty  of  this  valiant  young  life 
to  the  religious  convictions  of  her  home  life,  for 
she  was  not  fanatic  nor  schismatic.  To  that  cause 
she  was  not  born.  She  lived  the  life  to  which  she 
was  born  in  the  name  of  Faith. 

It  is  historically  true  that  Jeanne  arose  in  the 
midst  of  the  most  hopeless  conditions  of  a  hundred 
years'  war,  wherein  France  had  been  reduced  to  a 
demoralized  fragment,  and  that  in  four  months 
this  eighteen-year-old  girl  defeated  the  most  re- 


CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS    327 

nowned  generals  with  her  greatly  inferior  forces, 
and  did  more  in  a  few  weeks  for  her  native  land 
than  the  strongest  men  had  done  in  several  gener- 
ations. But  what  she  inspired  in  them  from  her 
inspiration  was  not  the  will  to  do,  for  they  already 
had  that,  but  the  miraculous  power  was  the  faith 
to  do,  which  had  been  departed  from  them  for  a 
century. 

There  is  no  record  that  the  Jewish  Sanhedrin 
ever  revised  the  trial  of  Jesus  and  consigned  to 
perdition  His  judges.  Whatever  the  motive  as- 
signed, let  full  honor  be  given  to  the  Catholic 
Church  that  it  reversed  the  decision  of  her  mur- 
derers, condemned  them  as  unfaithful,  unrepre- 
sentative, unjust  and  unfit,  and  cast  them  out  of 
the  pale  of  the  Church. 

5.  The  Commonwealth  of  Social  Truth 

Sometimes  the  surroundings  of  the  potential 
character  has  brought  forth  the  wonderful  career. 
But  this  can  not  be  assumed  of  Joan  of  Arc.  Her 
surroundings  may  have  suggested  a  faith  and  a 
cause,  but  there  was  everything  to  suppress  such 
a  faith  and  everything  to  overcome  in  such  a  ca- 
reer. Every  ingenuity  possible  in  the  evidence 
has  been  used  to  give  the  credit  for  her  to  the 
Fairies  of  the  Tree,  or  to  the  miracles  wrought 
through  her  as  an  instrument  of  celestial  beings, 
or  to  her  own  religious  obsessions,  or  to  the  scheme 
of  priests  and  politicians,  and  to  manv  other 


328 JOAN  OF  ARC 

forms  of  explanation,  but,  when  search  is  made, 
there  remains  nothing  but  the  mystery  of  power 
in  righteous  faith,  that  wrongs  flee  as  a  shadow 
before  the  might  of  right. 

Nothing  in  all  historical  evidence  is  more  cer- 
tain than  that  Joan  arose  by  her  own  force  of 
mind  to  do  her  perilous  work  in  the  battle  front 
of  armies,  and  to  take  her  more  perilous  position 
at  the  right  hand  of  kings.  Her  greatest  fear  was 
envious  treachery,  and  then  that  the  world  she 
had  conquered  might  conquer  her  from  the  faith 
she  had  given  to  God. 

The  life  of  this  woman  is  a  revelation  of  crea- 
tive religion,  and  is  more  than  any  will  or  art  of 
creed  or  war.  To  write  truly  of  her  is  not  merely 
to  exalt  a  woman  but  more  surely  to  bring  forth 
the  meaning  of  a  faith  having  the  creative  power 
of  God  in  the  soul  of  man. 

The  practical  meaning  of  her  superb  interest 
and  reasonable  faith  is  that  she  took  life  as  she 
found  it  and  used  the  means  at  hand.  The  mes- 
sage of  God  was  always  as  powerless  as  the  in- 
dividual messenger  unless  men  received  the  mes- 
sage and  turned  its  faith  into  works.  Her  Lord 
once  said,  "My  Father  worketh  and  I  work." 
Also,  He  said,  *  *  The  Father,  that  dwelleth  in  me, 
He  doeth  the  works,"  and  further,  "Believe  me 
for  the  very  works*  sake."  She  often  repeated 
as  her  inmost  idea,  urging  her  friends  to  action, 
' '  Only  as  men  strive  can  God  reward. '  '  Thus  the 
wisdom  of  a  child  saw  beyond  science  and  philoso- 


STATUE  OF  JOAN  OF  ARC 
Riverside  Drive,  New  York,  by  Anna  Vaughn  Hyatt 


phy  that  God's  work  is  in  providing  the  justifica- 
tion of  faith  in  the  good  work  thus  done  by  man. 

William  T.  Stead,  in  writing  of  her,  said,  "She 
had  all  the  distinctive  notes  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth 
.  .  .  regarding  the  carpenter's  son,  of  course 
merely  from  His  human  side.  Not  merely  was  her 
life  a  sacrifice  and  her  death  a  martyrdom,  but  her 
story  is  saturated  through  with  the  same  miracu- 
lous element." 

But  this  superb  woman  of  genius  displayed  no 
genius.  She  displayed  the  faith  that  is  expressed 
in  works,  and  that  alone  is  genius,  power  and  di- 
vinity. And  we  do  not  have  to  say  faith  in  what ! 
There  is  but  one  faith  in  the  zenith  of  thought  and 
that  is  faith  in  God  as  the  soul  of  the  social  uni- 
verse. Faith  is  a  higher  power.  It  is  conclusively 
shown  in  her  life  to  be  an  entity  of  power  which 
was  unapproachable  and  unanswerable  to  the 
most  powerful  means  of  that  age. 

Mr.  Stead  further  says,  "The  story  of  the  Maid 
of  Orleans  has  long  been  recognized  as  one  of  the 
most  fascinating  and  enthralling  of  all  the  trage- 
dies of  history,  not  inferior  in  pathos  to  any  nar- 
rative, sacred  or  profane,  in  any  literature.  .  .  . 
All  that  we  can  say  of  a  certainty  is  that  the  Maid 
of  Orleans  was  endued  with  gifts  and  graces  and 
capacities  which  were  not  natural  to  the  Shep- 
herdess of  Domremy,  nor,  indeed,  could  be  ac- 
quired by  an  unlettered  peasant  girl,  any  more 
than  the  apostles  could  fyave  attained  by  aid  of 


330 JOAN  OF  ARC 

the  grammar  and  dictionary  the  gift  of  tongues 
which  they  received  at  Pentecost." 

And  yet  again,  why  has  not  the  faith  of  a  child 
in  God  all  the  powers  that  have  composed  it  out  of 
the  social  universe !  Why  is  not  this  a  basis  of 
agreement  for  the  premises  of  reason  suitable  to 
all  consequences  for  infidel,  protestant  or  catho- 
lic! Scientific  faith  can  not  be  of  science  if  it  is 
not  comprehensive  enough  to  be  moral,  and,  when 
morality  comprehends  the  truth  that  makes  us 
free,  it  is  the  religion  of  a  social  universe. 

6.  The  Social  Commonwealth  of  a,  Divine  Universe 

The  life  of  the  wonderful  woman  has  not  passed 
away  and  it  will  not  pass.  As  she  lived  in  faith 
so  she  still  lives  in  that  kingdom  of  God. 

Ideas  outside  of  moral  faith  are  things  of  evil. 
They  are  working  entities  existing  in  signs  and 
symbols  as  evil  spirits.  Many  a  God-idea  is  per- 
verted until  it  is  a  more  desperate  evil  than  any 
original  devil-idea.  The  God  of  ideas  has  his  le- 
gions of  composing  thoughts  and  they  are  alive 
only  in  a  kingdom  of  faith.  Their  meaning  is 
within  us  and  they  are  original  elements  of  power. 

There  is  no  mysticism  in  this  envisional  concep- 
tion of  the  forces  contending  for  the  freedom  or 
the  mastery  of  the  mind.  It  explains  all  the  myth- 
ology in  orthodox  religions  as  having  a  conception 
of  psychological  truth.  It  brings  into  compara- 
tive view  the  democracy  of  faith  and  the  despot- 


CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS    331 

ism  of  will  as  ways  of  self,  society,  civilization  and 
humanity. 

Divine  faith  as  the  maker  of  mind  provides  a 
righteous  way  in  some  sacred  cause  for  humanity. 
It  may  be  the  restoration  of  an  enslaved  people, 
as  was  that  of  Moses,  or  of  the  discovery  of  truth, 
as  was  that  of  Socrates,  or  of  the  salvation  of  the 
world,  as  was  that  of  Christ.  It  may  be  for  the 
freedom  of  the  people  as  was  ancient  Athens,  for 
religious  liberty  as  in  the  struggle  of  Holland,  or 
for  the  safety  of  the  individual  as  in  the  meaning 
of  America. 

As  Christ  gave  His  life  for  the  humanity  of 
the  world  so  Joan  of  Arc  gave  hers  for  the  human- 
ity of  nations.  The  faith  of  both  in  the  name  of 
God  was  one,  and  it  was  a  faith  that  triumphed 
over  death.  The  shepherd  girl  from  the  hills  of 
Lorraine  has  no  counterpart  since  the  boy  arose 
from  the  bulrushes  of  the  Nile  to  lead  captives  to 
the  freedom  of  the  promised  land.  She  was  his 
successor  in  the  problem  of  righteousness  among 
groups  and  nations.  She  was  one  who  wanted  to 
clean  the  harvest  fields  of  a  people  from  the  ver- 
min of  conquest  and  to  have  a  region  of  order 
safe  for  childhood,  parentage  and  the  peace  of 
those  grown  old  in  the  work  of  the  world. 

Joan  of  Arc  in  the  narrower  vision  is  the  in- 
carnation and  symbol  of  patriotism.  But  no  ideal 
of  patriotism  could  give  her  such  unconquerable 
faith.  She. is  an  unsurpassable  example  of  devo- 
tion to  the  Church  which  gave  her  all  she  knew 


832 JOAN  OF  ARC 

of  the  reign  of  God  on  earth,  but  the  Church  could 
not  give  her  the  glorious  cause  in  which  she  died, 
because,  in  that  respect  it  was  priest  against 
priest  and  Church  authority  against  Church  au- 
thority. The  problem  of  reconciling  the  attitude 
of  the  bishops  had  no  interest  for  her,  and  she 
scorned  the  finical  wisdom  of  the  clerks.  There- 
fore, it  was  not  Church  nor  Country  that  made 
Joan  of  Arc.  It  was  the  revolt  of  a  superior  soul 
against  wrong,  the  solution  of  which  was  to  drive 
the  wrong-doers  out  of  her  country,  and  to  unite 
her  people  under  a  consecrated  King,  who  should 
be  true  to  the  King  of  Heaven  to  whom  belonged 
the  people  of  France. 

7.  The  Face  and  Form  of  Her 

The  face  and  form  given  in  pictures  and  statues 
of  Joan  of  Arc  may  not  be  exact  in  detail,  but  the 
descriptions  of  her  were  so  vivid  and  abundant 
that  the  statue  of  her  by  Princess  Marie,  daughter 
of  Louis  Philippe,  can  not  be  much  different  from 
the  real  woman. 

The  fate  of  this  wonderful  woman  has  been  al- 
most as  strange  in  literature  and  history  as  in  her 
career.  Chapelain  wrote  in  high  praise  of  her 
soon  after  her  death,  but  his  high-sounding  verses 
have  all  perished  excepting  a  few  lines  quoted  by 
Boileau.  Southey,  the  Englishman,  wrote  with  the 
worship  of  youth  for  her  heroic  spirit,  and  Vol- 
taire the  Frenchman  used  her  as  a  wench  with 


333 


whom  to  lampoon  the  Church.  So  has  her  life 
served  almost  every  purpose  where  any  one  need- 
ed an  illustrious  example. 

A  statue  to  her  memory  was  raised  on  the 
bridge  at  Orleans  soon  after  her  death,  but  it  per- 
ished in  the  wars  that  followed.  All  we  know  of  it 
is  from  the  preservation  of  the  inscription  on  it 
which  said  that  it  was  raised  by  the  Matrons  and 
Maids  of  Orleans.  The  earliest  engraving  of  her 
now  in  existence  was  made  in  1606,  but  the  com- 
monly accepted  appearance  of  her  is  the  statue 
made  by  Princess  Marie  of  Wiirtemburg,  now  in 
the  art  galleries  of  Versailles. 

Some  unknown  German  priest,  writing  in  1793 
on  the  spot  where  she  was  burnt,  wrote  a  poem 
from  which  the  following  stanzas  are  selected : 

"It  was  no  fabling  story, 

That  strengthening  glimpse  of  glory, 
'Twas  Horeb's  sacred  spark! 

Christ  did  thy  banner  brighten, 

And  Christ  thy  pangs  will  lighten, 

Jeanne!  thou  Maid  of  Arc. 

Here  naked  they  exposed  thee, 

Here  martyr  flames  enclosed  thee, 

Thou  holy  heroine ! 

Here  angels  waved  their  boughs 

Of  palms  around  your  brows 

Thou  suffer  serene!" 

Jeanne  d'Arc  lives  before  us  as  a  vision  of  his- 
tory, legend,  miracle,  mythology  and  mystery. 
She  is  one  of  the  morning  stars  awakening  the 


334 


world  from  the  midnight  of  the  past.  Humanity 
has  its  heavens,  that,  far  more  than  the  skies,  de- 
clare the  glory  of  God.  She  has  enlarged  our  un- 
derstanding of  the  faith-ideal  and  immortalized 
the  womanly  beauty  of  our  human  dream. 

Lives  gather  meaning  like  ideas.  Their  inter- 
est and  influence  can  not  be  held  to  the  historical 
portrait  or  to  the  changeless  feature  of  the  statue. 
It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  life  is  ever  represented, 
and  that  it  never  can  be  represented,  as  it  is.  Life 
is  what  it  is  to  us.  Life  exists  only  as  its  meaning 
is  our  truth. 

The  details  of  exactness  worked  out  in  her  story 
would  lose  the  meaning,  even  as  a  reproduction  of 
the  elemental  sounds  in  a  word  would  convey  no 
idea.  Being  meaningless,  it  would  be  worthless 
and  untrue.  As  we  desire  the  golden  coin  to  be 

1  gold,  and  the  stamp  of  coinage  to  be  legitimate,  so 
the  inspiring  vision  must  have  a  total  meaning 
harmonious  with  the  eternal  way.  Such  is  faith 
as  the  complete  sufficiency  for  life,  and  in  such 
faith,  no  less  than  in  that  of  La  Pucelle,  is  golden 
coin  and  legitimate  coinage.  Her  voices  continue 
forever  as  soul-expanding  notes  in  the  music  of 
humanity. 

Divine  faith,  wherever  it  has  appeared  on  earth, 
has  strangely  the  same  history.  The  parallel 
stories  are  fundamentally  alike  enough  to  be  of 
the  same  source,  the  same  coinage  and  the  same 
gold.  The  archbishops  with  this  one  wonderful 

.  woman  were  much  of  the  same  kind  with  the  Jew- 


CONCLUDING  rALUATIONS    335 

ish  doctors  and  the  One  Wonderful  Man.  She  in- 
deed drank  of  the  cup  which  her  Lord  drank  and 
was  baptized  with  the  baptism  wherewith  he  was 
baptized,  this  girl  of  nineteen,  who  had  never 
looked  into  the  eyes  of  the  Son  of  Man,  and  whom 
she  never  denied  even  unto  the  dawn  of  her  great 
day.  Lives  thus  sacrificed  upon  the  way  are  given 
for  the  healing  of  nations  and  for  the  making  of 
the  world. 

8.  Beatification 

In  1869,  Dupanloup,  Bishop  of  Orleans,  ad- 
dressed the  Holy  See  on  the  cause  of  the  Beatifica- 
tion of  Joan  of  Arc ;  December  13,  1908,  the  proc- 
ess began  in  declaring  her  sainthood,  and,  on 
April  11,  1909,  Pope  Piux  X,  the  required  process 
being  completed,  published  the  decree  placing  her 
name  among  the  Blessed  in  the  calendar  of  Saints, 
as  she  already  was  in  the  hearts  of  the  world,  and 
the  meaning  of  the  divine  universe. 

She  had  written  her  life  in  the  constitutions  of 
society,  and  faith  had  set  her  star  of  hope  and 
love  in  the  constellations  of  light.  But  neither  the 
mystic  nor  the  ideal,  inspiring  even  for  the  finest 
worth  of  humanity,  can  ever  explain  or  formulate 
her  career  of  practical  value  as  available  to  the 
individual  soul.  Joan  of  Arc  revealed  the  power 
of  inspiration  and  faith  against  theory  and  will. 
In  recent  times,  the  two  regions  of  life  are  still 
the  same  for  private  interests,  each  distinguish- 
able from  the  other  as  contrasts,  ever  visible  be- 


336  JOAN  OF  ARC 

tween  social  sympathy  and  individual  mastery; 
but,  for  public  world  interests,  the  struggle  still 
continues  to  achieve  through  peace  and  war  a 
world  of  social  democracy  as  against  a  world  of 
sovereign  efficient  states. 

In  the  desperate  days  of  the  European  War, 
when  the  ruthless  invader  was  crushing  his  heel 
into  the  heart  of  France,  there  was  many  a  prayer 
to  the  Daughter  of  God,  invoking  her  to  come 
forth  again  with  her  ancient  power  for  the  rights 
of  her  people.  Benjamin  de  Casseres  wrote  a 
poem  of  which  the  following  was  the  refrain : 

"Sister  on  earth  to  the  Man  of  Tears, 
Madonna  of  France  who  knew  no  fears, 
Arise  with  thy  warriors  out  of  the  years ! — > 
We  summon  thee  back  to  France !" 

To  this  summons  Conde  Fallen  replied: 

"The  soul  of  France  has  wakened  and  Joan  leads  the  way; 
The  soul  of  France  is  marching  in  honor's  white  array, 
The  soul  of  France  is  voicing  all  the  glories  of  her  past, 
The  soul  of  France  is  chanting  to  the  music  of  the  blast, 
The  soul  of  France  is  singing  to  the  thunder  of  the  gale, 
And  Joan  leads  her  legions  in  the  lightenings  of  her  mail." 

At  the  beatification  of  La  Pucelle  as  a  saint  in 
the  calendar  of  the  Church,  five  hundred  years 
after  the  childhood  of  the  Shepherd  Girl,  many 
thousands  of  pilgrims  from  all  parts  of  the  world 
were  crowded  before  the  high  altars  of  Saint 
Peter  at  the  Vatican.  There  were  present  all  the ' 


CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS    337 

high  dignitaries  of  Church  and  State.  The  entire 
Church  Militant  in  its  highest  authority  was  there 
to  do  her  the  greatest  honor  possible  to  religious 
order  in  whose  name  she  had  suffered  the  most 
desperate  and  ignoble  martyrdom.  The  ceremo- 
nies required  the  services  of  fifteen  cardinals  and 
seventy  archbishops.  If  the  Bishop  of  Beauvais 
and  the  learned  doctors  of  law  from  the  faculty 
of  the  University  of  Paris  could  have  seen  that 
gorgeous  vision  of  religious  sanction  upon  one 
whom  they  so  dreadfully  defamed,  what  a  wither- 
ing blast  it  would  have  been  upon  their  learning, 
their  piety  and  their  law.  It  is  a  brilliant  illus- 
tration of  the  incompetency  of  mind,  a  withering 
repudiation  of  efficiency  in  reasoning  when  devot- 
ed to  will  and  limited  to  self. 

Upon  the  banner  representing  that  of  Joan  of 
Arc  were  the  significant  words  that  compose  her 
career  and  give  meaning  to  her  life.  Those  words 
were  " Faith  and  Country."  If  we  can  under- 
stand country  to  mean  a  home  safe  for  a  child  and 
for  the  faith  of  a  loyal  woman,  then  "Faith  and 
Country"  define  the  sainthood  of  Joan  of  Arc. 

Frederick  Welty,  writing  of  her  Beatification, 
has  this  verse : 

"Domremy !   Oh  Domremy !  how  the  haunted  woodland  sighs, 
For  the  falling  of  her  footsteps,  for  the  laughing  of  her  eyes ! 
Domremy !   Oh  Domremy !   Across  the  meadow  dews, 
She  is  coming,  she  is  coming,  by  the  turning  of  the  Meuse. 
They've  crowned  her  at  the  Vatican,  and  named  her  Queen  of 
France, 


338 JOAN  OF  ARC 

And  bade  her  rule  from  Vosges  and  recall  each  errant  lance. 
She  is  coming,  she  is  coming,  in  the  rising  of  the  sun, 
To  rule,  to  rule  in  Vosges  'til  the  years  of  God  are  run." 

9.  Realizing  Some  Conclusions 

Joan  of  Arc  had  no  strength  or  character  pecu- 
liar to  herself  alone,  nor  given  to  herself  alone, 
or  that  is  denied  in  any  way  to  others  among  the 
sons  and  daughters  of  men.  To  see  her  as  one 
unique  in  heredity,  or  a  single  example  of  favorit- 
ism from  the  divine,  is  unreasonable  and  alike  ab- 
surd to  the  law  and  order  of  life.  Her  faith  is 
available  to  all.  To  be  a  respecter  of  persons  is 
not  known  in  human  history  either  for  Nature  or 
God. 

Two  interests  available  to  any  one  made  her 
one  of  the  supreme  benefactors  of  humanity  and 
developed  in  her  the  unconquerable  character  un- 
surpassable in  the  history  of  mankind.  Over  and 
over  again  she  tells  us  herself  what  that  immortal 
meaning  was  to  her.  The  first  great  interest  noted 
by  her  clearly  identified  her  as  one  in  tune  with 
the  eternal  moral  law.  It  was  this  moral  truth, 
as  she  said,  that  had  "Great  Pity  for  France." 
This  means  that  the  child  of  Domremy  felt  for 
her  people  what  the  Man  of  Sorrows  felt  for  His 
world.  Then  there  was  the  second  interest,  which 
was  merely  the  ultimate  meaning  of  the  first,  she 
had  equally  great  faith  in  the  God  of  life,  that  ful- 
fillment is  provided  for  all  who  are  striving  in 
that  divine  order  for  fulfillment.  The  intuition  of 


CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS    339 

the  child  was  no  less  irresistible  than  the  conclu- 
sions of  all  logic:  God  and  Nature  were  together 
an  almighty  moral  law  that  would  defeat  wrong 
and  sustain  right  wherever  the  people  strove  to- 
gether in  harmony  with  nature,  law  and  God. 

Socrates  may  be  reckoned  as  the  first  supreme 
individual  example  of  faith  in  eternal  order  pay- 
ing the  tragedy  of  humanity  to  the  reasoning  of 
collective  will.  His  vision  was  the  light  of  the 
world  until  its  righteousness  became  one  with  the 
divine  message  that  gathered  all  the  meaning  of 
mankind  into  the  Tragedy  of  the  Cross,  where  the 
infinite  order  of  faith  again  paid  the  whole  human 
penalty  to  the  organization  of  will.  Over  and 
over  again,  daily,  if  not  hourly,  since  human  will 
began,  and  until  human  will  as  such  shall  end,  the 
same  tragedy,  in  all  its  infinite  variety  of  torture 
and  ruin,  continues  to  be  repeated  in  every  life  in 
every  community  and  group,  and  on  and  on  it  will 
be  so  until  we  know  how  to  eliminate  the  liar  and 
traitor  and  assassin  whose  will  is  substituted  for 
social  order  and  the  moral  law. 

Among  the  countless  martyrs  to  the  rights  of 
life,  Joan  of  Arc  lived  and  died  for  a  more  com- 
prehensive and  practical  vision  of  social  interests, 
against  the  mastery  of  a  more  conspicuous  autoc- 
racy of  will  by  far,  than  is  reasonable  to  suppose 
that  history  ever  had,  or  can  ever  have  again  in 
the  course  of  the  world.  Moreover,  her  prophe- 
cies come  true  and  her  work  for  France  was  not 
in  vain.  The  hundred  years*  war  came  to  an  end 


340 JOAN  OF  ARC 

and  peace  was  restored,  as  La  Pucelle  had  pre- 
dicted, within  seven  years,  though  Calais  was  held 
until  January,  1558,  when  the  foe  was  thrust  out 
of  France  "except  those  who  died  there." 

We  may  well  believe  that  Paul,  in  this  fulfill- 
ment of  her  work,  would  surely  share  with  her  the 
full  measure  of  his  triumphant  soul,  as  he  said, 
* '  I  have  fought  the  good  fight,  I  have  finished  my 
course,  I  have  kept  the  faith,  henceforth  there  is 
laid  up  for  me  a  crown  of  righteousness." 

Sterling  said,  at  a  time  when  it  was  regarded 
as  good  history  to  believe  her  evil  beyond  all  other 
women : 

"High  among  the  dead,  who  give 
Better  life  to  those  who  live, 
See  where  shines  the  peasant  Maid." 

The  most  amazing  mission  and  message  of  faith 
and  fulfillment  anywhere  on  record  is  known  to  us 
in  meaning  as  far  more  than  history  can  reveal  in 
the  life  of  Joan  of  Arc.  The  war-lords  trod  across 
her  humble  fields  and  withered  the  happiness  and 
rights  of  human  beings,  as  grass  in  the  way  of  fire. 
The  record  is  not  so  desperate  and  atrocious  as 
seen  in  our  scientific  war  of  the  present  Christian 
age,  but  a  religious  child  believing  in  God,  knew 
there  was  somewhere  strength  to  stay  such  un- 
speakable wrong.  She  had  unconquerable  and  un- 
faltering faith  that  God  would  give  his  strength 
to  any  one  laboring  or  fighting  to  overthrow  such 
despotism,.  She  was  not  awe-struck  before  the 
pomp  of  Courts  and  Kings,  because  she  served  an 


CONCLUDING  VALUATIONS    841 

infinitely  greater  Lord,  even  the  Lord  of  lords,  the 
King  of  kings,  no  less  than  the  King  of  heaven, 
nay  more,  she  was  herself  the  daughter  of  God. 

Christ  named  one  sin  as  unpardonable,  and  that 
was  probably  where  a  saintly  thing  is  named  as 
coming  from  Satan,  or  where  a  good  thing  is  used 
as  being  evil.  The  curse  of  woe  is  upon  those  who 
believe  a  lie  and  love  it.  Human  history  has  no 
example  anywhere  else  in  which  such  extended 
high-power  efforts  were  made  to  f alisfy  the  record 
of  a  life,  and  write  down  one  of  the  noblest  of 
characters  as  an  enemy  of  Man  and  God.  But 
it  all  failed  and  very  rapidly  failed. 

The  divine  reality  of  faith  that  makes  possible 
the  process  of  social  civilization  is  the  same,  yes- 
terday, to-day  and  forever,  for  all  mankind.  The 
learned  of  many  lands  have  tried  to  explain  the 
dreaming  girl  of  Domremy  in  other  ways,  outside 
the  power  of  faith,  but  none  of  it  explains.  She 
grew  up  from  the  desolation  of  contending  pas- 
sions into  the  most  treasonable  and  corrupt  of  all 
ages,  where  faith  was  known  only  as  a  truce  be- 
tween debaucheries,  and  honor  was  a  commodity 
of  any  market.  But  her  white  life  would  have 
none  of  that  way. 

"I  have  great  pity  for  your  soul,"  she  said  to 
her  enemies,  even  as  she  heard  the  voice  of  God, 
in  harmony  with  her  feelings,  saying,  "I  have 
great  pity  for  France.'* 

Great  pity  for  the  soul  of  those  who  are  wrong 
is  the  God-like  interest  of  all  divine  faith. 


342 JOAN  OF  ARC 

*  *  Father,  forgive  them !  They  know  not  what  they 
do!"  can  be  said  only  from  the  far-seeing  vision 
of  the  faith  that  passeth  understanding,  faith  in 
the  certainty  of  a  moral  universe. 

Her  final  and  fatal  problem  was  in  being  forced 
to  decide  for  the  truth  of  the  immediate  God  or 
the  immediate  Church,  and  she  never  hesitated  for 
an  instant  to  live  and  die  for  the  immediate  God. 
She  named  the  eternal  freedom  of  conscience  and 
the  soul  long  before  the  great  reformers  were 
born,  as  she  refused  to  allow  any  mastery  of  the 
Church  to  come  between  her  and  her  God.  Inspi- 
ration immediate  for  her  soul  was  the  source  of 
faith  which  all  the  most  learned,  powerful  and  un- 
merciful could  not  touch  or  befoul,  and  which  all 
the  suffering  possible  for  a  girl  could  not  cause  to 
lessen  or  fail.  None  of  the  great  religious  reform- 
ers ever  replied  more  boldly,  directly  or  conclu- 
sively to  their  inquisitors  than  did  this  girl  when 
she  said  to  the  imposing  conclave  from  the  Uni- 
versity of  Paris,  "There  is  more  in  the  Book  of 
Our  Lord  than  in  all  yours." 

Anatole  France,  in  his  anti-religious  history  of 
her,  says,  "This  child's  utterance  sapped  the  very 
foundation  of  the  Church,"  meaning  the  interfer- 
ence of  ecclesiastics  between  the  soul  and  the  God 
of  Life.  When  the  University  professors  of  Poi- 
tiers asked  her  for  a  sign  of  her  divine  calling,  she 
named  victory  as  the  sign,  and  it  cost  them  six 
weeks  of  discussion  and  investigation  before  they 
could  decide  that  it  was  their  business  to  aid  in 


CONCLUDING  VALVAT1ONS    343 

bringing  this  sign  to  pass  by  recommending  her  to 
the  King. 

She  added  new  luster  to  the  meaning  given  by 
her  to  the  independence  of  the  soul,  after  she  had 
achieved  the  victory  sign  at  Orleans.  Bishop 
Pasquerel  said  to  her  as  he  took  into  considera- 
tion her  words  and  deeds, 1 1  Such  history  as  yours 
there  hath  never  been  before  in  the  world.  Nought 
like  it  can  be  read  in  any  book."  As  to  the  doc- 
tors of  the  law  at  Poitiers  and  at  Paris,  she  re- 
plied to  him,  "My  Lord  hath  a  book  in  which  no 
clerk,  however  perfect  his  learning,  has  ever 
read." 

And  so  we  are  slowly  learning  her  truth,  that, 
as  the  child  believes  in  the  goodness  of  mankind, 
so  mind  must  forever  believe  in  the  goodness  of 
the  Maker  of  mankind.  The  infinite  system  in 
which  we  live  and  move  and  have  our  being,  out 
of  which  we  come  and  into  which  we  go,  is  the 
truth  which  shall  make  us  free,  the  faith  that 
makes  us  free,  and  the  only  way  under  heaven 
whereby  there  can  be  peace  on  earth  or  salvation 
for  the  nations  of  the  world. 

Humanity  requires  social  justice,  but  the  neces- 
sary righteousness  is  not  possible  in  any  compact 
of  wills,  however  carefully  they  may  be  cove- 
nanted to  manage,  without  respect  to  persons,  the 
various  abilities  to  get  and  to  monopolize.  The 
human  struggle  to  develop  a  civilization  freed 
from  the  control  of  individual  greed,  through  the 
management  of  wills  by  the  letter  of  the  law,  is 


344 JOAN  OF  ARC 

historically  demonstrated  to  be  impossible.     As 
the  right  to  life  essentially  requires  the  best  ob- 
tainable means  for  life,  it  follows  that  any  dis- 
loyalty to  either  right  is  a  fundamental  crime 
against  the  inalienable  right  of  man.    But  history 
and  reason  have  likewise  demonstrated  the  impos- 
sibility of  any  unaided  individual  mind  ever  be- 
coming wise  enough  to  provide  what  is  best  for  the 
right  life.     The  social  wisdom  necessary  for  the 
way  of  life  and  the  rights  of  man  is  the  refined 
commonwealth  of  the  ages.     Many  persons  be- 
lieved in  Christ,  but  their  individual  understand- 
ing was  too  feeble  to  be  faithful  when  they  saw  the 
will  by  which  they  measured  him,  reduced  to  noth- 
ingness under  the  will  of  his  enemies.    Many  be- 
lieved in  Joan  of  Arc,  but  their  individual  inter- 
pretations collapsed  when  they  saw  her  will  pow- 
erless under  the  will  of  church  and  state.    A  civili- 
zation of  wills  has  studded  the  sky  of  mind  with 
such  fantastic  notions  of  personal  justice  that  we 
now  know  a  system  of  wills  has  no  meaning  or 
consequence,  but  suffering,  sacrifice  and  war. 

Christ  was  a  revelation  of  life  and  not  the  doc- 
trine of  a  will.  Joan  of  Arc  was  a  revelation  of 
Christian  life.  She  was  a  vision  and  a  message 
of  the  unconquerable  Christian  soul.  This  bright 
and  morning  star  of  all  the  Christian  centuries, 
this  fairest  among  ten  thousand,  this  altogether 
lovely  soul  of  womanhood,  drank  the  cup  and  won 
for  all  time  the  victory  of  her  Lord,  the  Divine 
Master  of  the  City  to  Come. 


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